Smith, who has played ODI cricket for England, will turn 24 on the third day of his first Test match at Lord’s, which will also be Anderson’s 188th and final in Test cricket.
Both Foakes and Bairstow were in the XI for all five Tests against India earlier this year, but both have been dropped as England look to regenerate their side and push towards next winter’s Ashes. The squeeze has been put on by the return of Harry Brook, who missed the tour due to the death of his grandmother.
Foakes kept beautifully in India but struggled to make a mark with the bat barring 47 in Ranchi. England have looked for their No 7 to be a more aggressive player.
Bairstow was chosen ahead of Foakes to keep in the Ashes last summer, having staged a remarkable recovery from the awful broken leg he suffered nine months earlier. While he missed a couple of chances earlier in the series, he finished with an average of 40. The 34-year-old played as a specialist batsman in India but failed to reach 40. Despite a golden run just after Ben Stokes took over as captain, Bairstow’s best returns in Test cricket have tended to be as a keeper-bat at No 7, where he averages 40.
Smith has kept in Championship cricket this summer when Foakes has been injured, and is first-choice in Surrey’s Blast team. He has also beaten off competition from Phil Salt and Durham’s Ollie Robinson, who is batting brilliantly this summer.
Brook’s return looks set to be the only notable change to the batting, with vice-captain Ollie Pope set to keep his place at No 3. Another Surrey player, Dan Lawrence, is retained as the squad’s spare batsman and he may provide a second spin-bowling option, having picked up 15 Championship wickets at 36 this season.
Leach came home from England’s tour of India with a nasty knee injury sustained at Hyderabad, his first match back after a stress-fracture of the back before last summer’s Ashes. He has been England’s first-choice spinner throughout Stokes’ two-year tenure as captain. In his absence in India, 20-year-old Bashir bowled well, but he has had a quiet start to the season, including being hit for 37 runs in an over by Lawrence earlier this week. Bashir’s selection is likely a nod to England’s long-term planning for next winter’s Ashes.
Robinson, who has played 20 Tests, should really be succeeding Anderson and Stuart Broad as England’s new-ball banker, but he has lost his way a little over the last 12 months. He played just once in India, and struggled with another back injury. Robinson has an average of under 23 from 20 Tests, showing what a fine bowler he is at his best.
England (expected) v West Indies:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Dan Lawrence, Chris Woakes, Dillon Pennington, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson (1st Test), Mark Wood (2nd and 3rd Tests)
