England news: Dan Lawrence given chance to stake claim in West Indies

Dan Lawrence is in pole position to bat at four in England’s first Test against the West Indies after being selected there for the tourists’ only warm-up in Antigua this week.

With captain Joe Root bumping himself up to first drop in an attempt to add some ballast to an unconvincing top order, Lawrence comes in to fill the vacant number four position against a Cricket West Indies President’s XI.

Lawrence, curiously unused during England’s turbulent Ashes campaign, has been deployed at three, five, six and seven in a stop-start Test career that has comprised of only eight matches but now has a chance to stake his claim.

The Essex batter has been given the nod for the four-day practice match at the Coolidge Cricket Ground starting on Tuesday ahead of Ollie Pope, named among the substitutes after averaging a paltry 20.36 in his last 10 Tests.

This marks England’s first red-ball outing since a mauling in Australia, with Zak Crawley joined by the uncapped Alex Lees at the top of the order, while Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow are carded at five and six respectively.

Ben Foakes, as anticipated, takes the gloves, while Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson will be the fast bowlers on show, with spinner Jack Leach completing the 12-strong line-up in a non-first-class fixture.

Paul Collingwood taking things one day at a time as coach

That means Saqib Mahmood, Matt Fisher and Matt Parkinson – all of whom are awaiting their maiden Test cap – join Pope on the bench, with England plumping for the more experienced campaigners in their bowling department.

Of course, their two most accomplished performers in James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who have taken a combined 1,177 Test wickets, have been controversially left