England captain Joe Root will move up the order and bat at number three against the West Indies, Sir Andrew Strauss has revealed.
Dawid Malan was one of eight players from England's Ashes squad who have been axed for the tour of the Caribbean and his absence means Root will step up.
Strauss, England's interim managing director, revealed that Root "said very categorically that he wants to bat at three".
Speaking to BBC Test Match Special, Strauss said: "A lot of the troubles with our batting line-up have come at the top of the order, we just haven’t been consistent enough.
"Alex Lees comes in as a mature cricketer who knows his game well and it's an opportunity for him to stake his claim at the top of the order with Zak Crawley.
"More importantly, Joe Root has said very categorically that he wants to bat at three and take that responsibility on.
"I think that's a very fundamental shift in itself and creates a bit of space in the middle order for some of the less experienced players to play better and play more consistently.
"You can look at a lot of the players we have picked over the last 18 months, I think they're all talented and capable of scoring runs at the international level. What they haven't done is done it consistently.
"The truth is, when people start talking about a 'red-ball reset' we need to start looking at everything we do and say 'can we do it better?'
"Thats from the domestic game, how we select our players, how we develop our players in the England environment and that's the challenge.
"I don't think anyone can hold their hands up and say we’ve been doing this brilliantly, least of all the players themselves. They’ve got that challenge and the support staff as well."
