England to drop spin heroes Jack Leach and Adil Rashid for West Indies opener

ENGLAND are poised to drop two of the spin heroes who inspired their whitewash in Sri Lanka.

Both left-armer Jack Leach and leg-spinner Adil Rashid look likely to be sidelined for the First Test against West Indies on Wednesday.

That became clear after the four days of warm-up practice against a West Indies Board President’s XI finished yesterday.

Moeen Ali is pencilled in to be the sole slow man — with a seam attack of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Sam Curran, along with all-rounder Ben Stokes.

It is possible Curran will take the new ball ahead of Broad because of his ability to gain swing through the air. Broad captured four wickets in five balls — including a hat-trick — on Wednesday.

Curran, 20, is a lucky charm for England and has tasted victory in all seven of his Test appearances.

Leach and Moeen each took 18 wickets in three Tests in Sri Lanka, while Rashid claimed 12 victims.

The pitches in Sri Lanka were tailor-made for spin but the surface at the Kensington Oval is expected to favour quicker bowling.

The warm-ups were at the Three Ws ground on the University of West Indies campus — and the President’s XI contained six players with Test experience.

Batsman Sunil Ambris, who has averaged just 15 in his six Test matches, was one of the few to shine with a lusty 94 yesterday.

Anderson was given the day off — but seven other England bowlers shared 11 wickets as the President’s XI continued batting after losing ten wickets. England made 379 runs on Thursday.

ENGLAND (First Test likely): Burns, Jennings, Bairstow, Root (capt), Stokes, Buttler, Foakes (wkt), Moeen, Curran, Broad, Anderson.

– Listen to every ball of England’s tour only on talkSPORT 2. Coverage starts at 1pm on Wednesday.