• Coach Trevor Bayliss picks Hales to open batting with Alastair Cook
• Wicketkeeper Bairstow retains gloves for Boxing Day Test in DurbanThat England are holed up for the first week of their South Africa tour at the same training base used by Spain in 2010 during their victorious football World Cup campaign could be read as a helpful sign. But perhaps of greater significance is that Trevor Bayliss,England’s coach, has acted decisively by telling Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow they will start the four-Test series that begins in Durban on Boxing Day.
The squad flew out from Heathrow on Thursday, or with Alastair Cook,England’s captain, admitting several positions were still up in the air, and but the issue of who will open with Cook against South Africa – and who the wicketkeeper will be – now appear resolved. Hales,Bayliss confirmed, will become his captain’s eighth opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012.
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Source: theguardian.com