England set to keep faith with Gary Ballance and top six in second Test with Bangladesh
Thursday 27 October 2016 08:15, UK
Gary Ballance looks set to be given another chance by the England selectors in the second Test with Bangladesh which starts on Friday.
The Yorkshire batsman is under pressure for his place after scoring just one and nine in the first Test, which England won by just 22 runs on Monday.
England have options, with Zafar Ansari a batting all-rounder who would give England a fourth spin option, and Jos Buttler available. Young opener Haseeb Hameed is another option at the top of the order, but selecting him would mean Ben Duckett moving down the order after just one Test as skipper Alastair Cook's opening partner.
England head coach Trevor Bayliss suggested however that they will stick with the same top six in the second Test in Dhaka, with any changes likely to be in the bowling department.
He said: "I don't think there's any reason to change [the batting] at this stage.
"The top four guys found it very difficult against the new ball facing the spinners. I'm sure all the batters will be better for it and better prepared going into the next match.
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"We have got confidence in all of the guys who are with us. [Any changes] will probably be more with the bowling than the batting at this stage.
"At some stage I've got a feeling most of the bowlers will play in this winter tour."
England have six Test matches - five in India - coming up, and Bayliss says he may have to rotate his bowlers.
"It is going to be tough for any bowler," he told Sky Sports News HQ. "It's a point of hopefully making sure some of our bowlers can make it through some of those Tests, but also making sure some of the guys who didn't play [in the first Test] have an opportunity to actually show what they can do.
"Obviously the Indian one is the big series but we're approaching this as a seven-Test series and seven games in eight weeks is very tough, especially on our bowlers. So I'd be surprised if all our bowlers didn't get a game or two at some stage."
