England hoping to hit the ground running ahead of big year

The World Cup in India later this year looms large over Eoin Morgan’s squad with competition for places at the showpiece tournament fierce

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It's a big year for English cricket and their captain knows they must hit the ground running in their first limited-overs action of the summer this week.

The ODI World Cup winners return to action on Wednesday in the shortest form of the game with a three-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka beginning in Cardiff.

The World Cup in India later this year looms large over Eoin Morgan's squad with competition for places at the showpiece tournament fierce.

All-format stars Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer remain on the sidelines with long-term injury concerns but Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan are back available for selection after scares of their own.

Morgan is aware of the selection headache he faces but is keen for whoever he picks to be at it from ball one.

"It's important to try and get guys that we feel will play a part in the World Cup some form of cricket during the next four weeks," Morgan said ahead of the first contest against the tourists.

"This series and the rest of the white-ball summer is a huge opportunity to stake our claim as a team and as individuals, both to be selected for the World Cup, but also the carrot of number one side in the world."

This series will be followed by another three-match tilt against Pakistan in July.

And with only five more matches between that and the tournament proper there is no time for anyone to ease themselves in.

"You want guys to be on the money from the first game because there's no breathing space," Morgan added. "It can come out at you quite quickly. We need to be on top of our game."

One player who is not part of this group is Alex Hales with the explosive opener still on the outside looking in ever since being dropped on the eve of the 2019 World Cup following a positive recreational drugs test.

Hales, one of only two batsman to register a T20 hundred for England, topped the run-charts in Australia's Big Bash League last winter and thumped an unbeaten 96 from just 54 balls for Nottinghamshire against Durham last week.

And Morgan, who is yet to reintegrate Hales into his group since his dropping, appeared to leave the door open for a return at some point.

"I think he does," Morgan said when asked whether the 32-year-old still has an England future. "I think when you look at the player that he is and the performances that he puts in around the world, he's a very fine player."

There remain issues to resolve, however, with Morgan having previously referenced a "breakdown in trust" between the team and the opener.

"There are conversations to be had between Alex, myself and the coach, and potentially a few of the players, but trying to get those happening in Covid times has been an issue. But they could happen at some stage.

"When you look at the players that we have available to us at the moment we're spoiled, and I think the longer you spend out of the side the further away you get from the position you once had.

"Looking at our top order at the moment in particular, even behind our top three or four we have guys sitting behind there that have drastically improved their performance in the international shirt that are taking up a position."