England coach Trevor Bayliss asserted on Sunday that paceman Jake Ball is expected to be fit and available for the first Ashes Test against Australia, in Brisbane.

Earlier this month, Ball sprained his ankle while bowling in the tour game against a Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide and is unlikely to play in Wednesday’s next tour game in Townsville.

Bayliss said, “There could be a possibility he would be right for the next game but we will probably let him go there and make sure he is right for selection for the first Test. At least he will be available for the first Test. Whether we pick him or not, we have got to make that decision once we get closer. He should be right in that 7-10 day time frame, he’s fairly confident.”

England defeated the CA XI by a huge margin of 192 runs in the four-day warm-up game in Adelaide on Saturday. Talking about the match, Bayliss said, “I thought we got our lengths a lot better in this game. In Perth (against a Western Australian XI) we bowled a lot of half volleys and a lot of long hops. In this match we got the length a lot better and put pressure on the opposition. We will certainly have to do that during the Test series.”

James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Chris Woakes will play the role