Ali looking all set to replace Lyth as Cook’s Test partner

Ballance, with a Test average of 47.79, was jettisoned after the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, but England persevered with opener Lyth throughout the five-match series, which they won 3-2.

However, Lyth scored only 115 runs in nine innings and all-rounder Moeen Ali is seen as a possible replacement to partner Alastair Cook at the top of the order and so help accommodate a second spinner in the UAE where they will face Pakistan.

Coach Trevor Bayliss insisted Lyth will “play again (for England)... at some stage”, but that puts his immediate Test future in doubt.

In the meantime, Yorkshire’s Joe Root has been rested and Reece Topley was the only uncapped player called up as England announced two limited-overs squads to take on Australia.

Root, an ever-present in England squads in all formats of recent times and winner of the Compton-Miller Medal as man of the series in this summer’s Ashes, is rested both from a 
13-man squad for next Monday’s one-off NatWest Twenty20 international in Cardiff and from a 14-man squad for the five Royal London one-day internationals which follow.

There is, however, perhaps surprisingly, no place for Jonny Bairstow – man of the match for the hard-hitting innings which helped England to an unlikely series-clinching ODI victory over the Kiwis at Chester-le-Street in June, when Jos Buttler was unavailable after splitting the webbing on his hand.

Essex left-arm seamer Topley is included in the Twenty20 squad only.

Eoin Morgan will captain both, having led England in their unsuccessful World Cup campaign last winter, but also then to success in a thrilling ODI series victory at home to New Zealand.

Moeen is back in both squads too, having been injured at the start of the summer, as is his fellow all-rounder Chris Woakes, who was similarly absent until recently with knee and hamstring trouble.

Yorkshire spinner Adil Rashid is included in both squads – the only Headingley player named for T20 – while Liam Plunkett is named in the ODI squad.

National selector James Whitaker said: “We have made some significant progress in our limited-overs cricket this summer, and the next six games allow these players to continue testing themselves against one of the very best sides in the world.

“This is primarily a young group of players, and the next three weeks will provide them with valuable experience as we continue to identify those who can take our limited-overs cricket forward over the next four years.”

England T20 squad: EJG Morgan (Captain), MM Ali, SW Billings, JC Buttler, ST Finn, AD Hales, AU Rashid, JJ Roy, BA Stokes, RW Topley, JM Vince, DJ Willey, CR Woakes.

England ODI squad: EJG Morgan (Captain), MM Ali, SW Billings, JC Buttler, ST Finn, AD Hales, LE Plunkett, AU Rashid, JJ Roy, BA Stokes, JWA Taylor, DJ Willey, CR Woakes, MA Wood.