With Jason Roy dropped after a poor run of form and Jonny Bairstow suffering a freak leg break while playing golf, England have a vacancy at the top of the order that either Alex Hales or Phil Salt will fill at the T20 World Cup.
The pair are essentially competing to partner captain Jos Buttler and both can make convincing arguments as to why they should get the nod. Hales has a particularly strong record in Australia, where he is the all-time overseas leading run scorer in the Big Bash, and has more experience and pedigree.
Salt, however, outperformed Hales in the recent Pakistan series and has established an excellent opening partnership with Buttler for Manchester Originals in The Hundred.
He is also capable of keeping wicket should Buttler want to focus on his captaincy, but coach Matthew Mott has stated that if Buttler is "fully fit he'll look to keep".
And when asked if he felt like he was in a 'straight shoot-out' with Hales for the chance to partner Buttler at the World Cup, Salt told BBC Test Match Special : "I suppose so when you look at it like that.
"Obviously there's a spot up for grabs with Jonny missing, so I guess you could look at it like that [but] I'm trying not to myself. Every game I play, every opportunity I get to pull the England shirt on I'm trying to put in the best performance I can and let the rest take care of itself."
Salt also offered promising updates on Buttler and Liam Livingstone, who have both not played since picking up injuries in The Hundred. "They're doing pretty well from what I've seen," Salt added.
"I saw Livi running yesterday and I've seen Jos do his rehab over the last few weeks [during the Pakistan series]. So it looks like both of them are doing pretty well from what I can see."
Before their opening World Cup match against Afghanistan in Perth on October 22, England will play a three match warm-up series against Australia and a final warm-up game against Pakistan.
