Pope's selection is a conservative call by England management

ENGLAND start what will be a busy seven or eight months for them when they begin their five Test series against India at Headingley today.

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This is the pre-cursor to the Ashes this winter - and you can't get two bigger series than these.

England have been building up to the trip Down Under for a while, but they can't take their eye off the ball against India.

And it will be interesting to see how this summer pans out.

There are decisions to make over the line-up - not least a big one they have already made for today’s opener in Leeds.

All eyes were on who England would select at number three. Would they keep faith with Ollie Pope or stick Jacob Bethell in there?

Bethell impressed in that role in New Zealand a few months back, but the dynamic probably changed after what happened in the Zimbabwe Test at Trent Bridge last month.

Bethell wasn’t available for the match because he had IPL commitments, while Pope churned out 170 in the crushing victory.

It's a decision I'm slightly surprised by. Ok, so Bethell doesn’t have a first-class hundred yet, but is hugely talented.

So to pick Pope seems to be a bit of a conservative decision - and not really the type we have become accustomed to under the Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum regime.

Pope has a decent record in Test cricket, but not against India and Australia, which are the two big tests for players.