England's Ashes preparation enters its decisive phase

Selectors meet at Lord's this week to finalise a top order that has been rebuilt, dismantled and rebuilt again four times since last summer — the most volatile twelve months for the England batting line-up in a generation.

The instability is partly tactical. The Bazball revolution has rewarded aggression but punished slow starters, and several incumbents have found themselves dropped for a single bad sequence rather than a bad season.