England cricket: Jos Buttler set to keep wicket in first Test against Sri Lanka

Jos Buttler is in line to be England’s wicketkeeper for the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle next week.

Regular keeper Jonny Bairstow is a major doubt for the opening Test after he injured his ankle playing football.

Buttler will don the gloves, the BBC reports, but Surrey keeper Ben Foakes is another option after he was called up as cover.

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England captain Joe Root said: “Although Jonny will be a big loss, we’ve got great players that can come in and rebalance the team.

“It’s day-by-day with Jonny at the minute. He’s actually made good strides and recovered a little bit quicker than we anticipated, but it’s still a long way to go. It’s obviously a big three-match series, so we need to weigh all that up and make a decision closer to the first game.”

When asked about Buttler starting behind the stumps, Root added: “That will probably be the likely scenario. But the reason we called Ben up is because he’s a high-quality keeper and we give ourselves another way of balancing the side out and give ourselves a chance of winning.

“These are all different options we’ve given ourselves going into this series and it’s a really nice position to be in.”

Broad to be axed?

England bowler Stuart Broad is facing being dropped for the first time in nearly ten years.

The end of the 32-year-old’s epic partnership with fellow fast bowler James Anderson is a “genuine prospect” for the series against Sri Lanka, says The Sun, “unless he improves in next few days”.

The Guardian says that Root’s “trickiest Test dilemma” is to “stick or twist” with Broad. The seamer’s place is one of several difficult decisions ahead for England skipper Root.

This week England face Sri Lanka in two two-day warm-up matches ahead of the first Test in Galle, which starts on Tuesday 6 November.