Ashes 2015: Bob Willis on Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow and Mark Stoneman

Bob Willis says Johnny Bairstow merits his call-up to England’s Ashes squad but bemoans the lack of alternatives in the county game…

Dropping Gary Ballance is definitely the right call by England and we shall now see whether Jonny Bairstow is the right man to fill the void.

The selectors are big on him and he deserves to be rewarded for the volume of runs he is churning out in County Championship Division One for Yorkshire, the best side in the competition.

James Taylor scored a double hundred this week but hasn’t been consistent and while James Hildreth scores runs at Taunton he doesn’t always get them everywhere else.

But Bairstow has had his problems with short-pitched fast bowling before and you can bet he will get some of that from Mitchell Johnson and co at Edgbaston in just over a week’s time.

It’s a shame from England’s point of view that he was probably the only real contender to replace Ballance, with few other batsmen putting their hands up during a relatively sun-drenched summer.

James Taylor scored a double hundred this week but hasn’t been consistent and while James Hildreth scores runs at Taunton, he doesn’t always get them everywhere else.

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So with England having decided to move on from Nick Compton – someone I still think could do a job in Test cricket – they didn’t really have anywhere else to go but Bairstow.

That said, if you don’t give an opportunity to players who score runs in the county game there’s no point in having it and I do think Bairstow has the temperament and character for an Ashes battle.

Whether he has the technique remains to be seen.

England will tweak their batting order to accommodate Bairstow with Ian Bell moving up to No 3, Joe Root to No 4 and the new boy slotting in at No 5.

I like the sound of that and I hope the promotion inspires Bell, who is a quality player but must be in the last-chance saloon, to perform on his home ground.

Too often he has failed to score big runs when England really need him to; there have been moments – I remember an excellent hundred against South Africa in 2009 that set up a victory – but a lot of his tons have been easy ones on flat pitches against poor bowlers.

We need him to go to Edgbaston and show just what a class act he is, so I think it is fair enough to say: ‘You are the senior batsman, now go and play like it’.

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I would also have dropped Adam Lyth for the third Test as I don’t think he is going to score runs against this attack with his vulnerability on off-stump, the cause of most of his dismissals.

Alex Hales would have been my pick to replace Lyth as it would be great to have a bit of David Warner-esque dynamism at the top of the order, particularly with conventional players at three and four.

I am certain he would take on the short ball and although he may get out frivolously on occasion I think the public would be highly excited by a player like him.

However, I also hope that Durham’s Mark Stoneman is in the selectors’ thoughts.

Stoneman doesn’t have a world-class first-class record, averaging 31.20, but you have to remember that he bats on a green and very bowler-friendly pitch up at Emirates Durham ICG.

He is a regular run scorer and could be someone, much like Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, who could cut it at the top level despite not having the stats to say so.

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