England set to drop their Test opener

England's revolving door of opening batsmen is set to swing again, with Keaton Jennings expected to be dropped for England's three-Test series against the West Indies.

England will announce their squad for the series that begins with a day-night Test at Edgbaston next Thursday – the first in England – with Jennings set to be dropped in favour of Surrey's Mark Stoneman.

If selected, Stoneman would become Alastair Cook's 12th opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012. The 30-year-old has excelled in the County Championship this season under the tutelage of former Australia batting coach Michael Di Ventuo, who is head coach at the county.

Stoneman had been the Australian's understudy at Durham and stepped into the opener's role after Di Venuto retired from playing in 2011. The Australian brought him back to Surrey after taking the head coach role at The Oval and Stoneman has flourished.

"I'd obviously taken him under my wing a little bit up at Durham," Di Venuto told The Independent recently.

"I knew how good he was and had seen how much he had grown so it was a great opportunity to bring him here when he was looking for a new challenge. 

"He has fitted in really well and that is what I wanted. He's an outstanding role model for the younger players in terms of performances on the field, obviously, but also in terms of character.

"He's been a consistent run scorer for a few years now, and he's really continued that in a new environment here.

"But I think he has also started to get some big scores, and particularly in the first innings of matches which puts us in a strong position and has taken him to the next level."

Stoneman has an even 1,000 runs in first-class cricket this county season, a top score of 197 and averaging 58.82 with three centuries.

In the four home Tests against South Africa Jennings managed 127 runs at 15.87 with a top score of 48.

Stoneman is tipped to get the nod ahead Lancashire's Haseeb Hameed, the 20-year-old who is seen as a long-term prospect at opener after impressing in his maiden series in India before his time in the Test XI was cut short by a hand injury.

Hameed had endured a torrid time since his comeback, going 20 first-class innings without a half-century before scoring a patient unbeaten 77 from 219 balls this week against Hampshire before rain ruined the match.

"You hear a lot of successful sportspeople say that these tough times make you a better cricketer and a better person, and I feel like I have developed a lot not only as a player but as a person as well this season," Hameed said after the County match was abandoned.

"Hopefully I can look back on the last few months and say 'you know what, this is what made me a better player' than if things had just gone my way from the word go.

"I'm just focused on trying to perform well for Lancashire right now. At the same time I'm hopeful and confident that if I can do that for Lancashire then further honours will come but there's a process for getting there.

"Everyone wants to play for England and that's definitely my ambition and aim to get back there as soon as possible. But there's a process and for me it's about scoring runs for Lancashire now and hopefully that call will come."

England squad (possible): Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes (vc), Alastair Cook, Tom Westley, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Toby Roland-Jones, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Steve Finn, Chris Woakes, Liam Dawson.

West Indies squad: Jason Holder (c), Kraigg Brathwaite (vc), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shimron Hetmyer, Kyle Hope, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Kieran Powell, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach.