Ashes, Third Test, Edgbaston, July 29-Aug 2

[from_the_stands]

Haddin will come back. My guess is that he has already told team management that he'll retire, probably after we presumably win the series, handing over the gloves to Neville for the last Test.

[yorker_129-7]

One change to the England squad, Ballance out replaced by Bairstow.

[Aidan11]

Wonder how that will affect the batting order.

[Aidan11]

3 Bell
4 Root
5 Bairstow

Seems to be the popular opinion on Twitter.

[alfie]

Can't believe they'd dump Nevill after an excellent debut : delighted at the inference that Haddin's family issues are on the upward trend , but does that mean he should automatically be restored ? Or is his poor Cardiff match deemed purely to be down to his understandable off field worries ...in which case he probably shouldn't have played there...

Not in full possession of the facts , I admit ... But immediately going back to Haddin sounds just a little like loyalty over form.

[Arthur Crabtree]

One change to the England squad, Ballance out replaced by Bairstow.

Probably fair enough, though I'm not sure there was good reason to go over and beyond Taylor again.

[Aidan11]

3 Bell
4 Root
5 Bairstow

Seems to be the popular opinion on Twitter.

Now confirmed by the selectors.

[alfie]

One change to the England squad, Ballance out replaced by Bairstow.

Logical . Root or Bell at three then is the remaining question.

Ballance is young enough to go back to the CC and work on his game. In fact I think this is probably the best move for his career as well as hopefully for the team...if he'd stayed and been worked over for a few more matches it might have been fatal.
Suspect if he makes it back - as he well may ( even for the UAE perhaps ? ) it may be at a later spot in the order.

Bell gets a chance on his home ground to prove he isn't finished yet.

[yorker_129-7]

One change to the England squad, Ballance out replaced by Bairstow.

Probably fair enough, though I'm not sure there was good reason to go over and beyond Taylor again.

Ballance has been in incredible form to be fair. Plus it's incredibly easy to overlook Taylor, unless you're Ronnie Corbett.

[alfie]

One change to the England squad, Ballance out replaced by Bairstow.

Probably fair enough, though I'm not sure there was good reason to go over and beyond Taylor again.

Good reason in that Bairstow really was demanding a place , I think. Taylor remains in line if Bell doesn't fire this time .

[Alviro Patterson]

One change to the England squad, Ballance out replaced by Bairstow.

Harsh on Ballance, it's Bell who should have got dropped for his non existent performances.

[Making_Splinters]

Fair enough, something had to change after England's string of poor top order displays.

There has been some unbalanced reporting about Bell and Ballance, much has been made about Ballance's first innings knock at Cardif but not a peep about Bell's second innings knock.

Ballance is young enough to go away, have a decent end to the season and come back for the winter tours. It is probably better he gets some time away from the Test side to work on his technical niggles like Bairstow has done rather than being hung, drawn and quartered for the rest of the season then dropped for the winter. Bell on the other hand has 3 tests to prove he still has a place in the Test side, especially if Bairstow comes in and does well. Bell has looked out of sorts having been removed as Vice Captain and dropped from the ODI side. He's been stuck in the slip cordon and not done well.

Long story short, Bell has to make a couple of scores before the end of the series or it will likely be time on his career. Interesting to hear that Cook is possibly going to give up the captaincy come the end of the series.

[Aidan11]

Ballance was a walking wicket.

It wasn't just his form, it was his technique.

A bit of work and he could be back.

[Durhamfootman]

I said before the series even started that Ballance wouldn't make it to the end of the series.

Hard to ignore Bairstow. He's probably never been in better form than he is atm, and it makes a nice change for England selectors to pick someone whilst they are in form, rather than after a period of good form has slipped into a bit of a slump.

Pity they couldn't have called Bairstow up before he scored 10,000 runs against Durham

[Durhamfootman]

Bell will survive the series, but this is going to be his last hurrah, so Taylor might get his chance this winter.