Ballance axed, Bairstow recalled

England have axed Gary Ballance for the third Ashes Test in Birmingham, with Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow added to the 13-man squad.

Ballance was out for 23 and 14 in England’s 405-run loss on Sunday at Lord’s as Australia levelled the five match series at one-all.

The 25-year-old struggled against Australia’s vaunted fast bowling attack in the first two Ashes Tests, and has been replaced by Yorkshire teammate and middle-order batsman Bairstow for the Edgbaston clash that starts on July 29.

England National Selector James Whitaker also announced the new batting order that will line-up at Edgbaston.

“For the third Test Ian Bell will move up the order to bat at three followed by Joe Root with Jonny Bairstow coming in at five,” Whitaker said in an ECB statement.

“Jonny has worked extremely hard at his game and his record for Yorkshire speaks for itself. He fully deserves this opportunity.

“Gary was naturally disappointed to miss out on this occasion however we feel that he will benefit from some time in county cricket to rediscover his form.

“He has already had plenty of success at international level and as selectors we are confident Gary will play a significant role for England in the future.”

Former England captain Michael Vaughan says opposition attacks have found a flaw in Ballance’s technique after the left-hander became the third fastest Englishman to 1,000 Test tuns.

“He needs to work hard on the technical side and try to get back into the ball. By that I mean he needs to get his head over the front pad more consistently,” Vaughan said in his column for the Telegraph UK.

“He also needs to move his front foot forward. He does not need a big stride, just a little shift in the direction of the ball, because he is stuck on the crease.

“His weight is so far back so if a ball keeps low, like it did in the first innings at Lord’s, he cannot get his bat to the ball at the right angle and is bowled by a full delivery.

“The ball is going straight under the bat. His confidence is also low and you need a swagger batting at three; a body language tinged with a bit of arrogance.” 

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Bairstow, who made the last of his 14 Tests appearances against Australia in Sydney 18 months ago, is the leading run-scorer in the Division One County Championship with 906 runs at an incredible average of 100.66 with five centuries.

Bairtsow has played six Tests against Australia, averaging 22.90 with a top score of 67.

The Yorkshire swap is the only change to the England squad that was assembled for the first two Tests.

Spin twins Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid feature in the 13-man group and England coach Trevor Bayliss hinted that the pair will likely play alongside each other in the series, which could be at Edgbaston in eight days’ time.

"I would like to play two spinners somewhere in this tour and currently he's thought of as one of the top two spinners in the country,” Bayliss said.

"So I'd be guessing he'd probably be there in that 13 if his finger's OK."

England squad for 3rd Ashes Test: Alastair Cook (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Mark Wood.

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