fan, and first division cricket this year batting at five for Surr

With James Taylor forced to retire due to a heart condition and Nick Compton solid rather than spectacular in South Africa this winter, spots are up for grabs in Englands middle order. So just where might the selectors be looking ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley, live on Sky Sports 2 from 10am on Thursday, May 19?Whether the decision-makers want wise old heads or fresh faces, there are a fair few options… Ian Bell Michael Atherton makes the case for Ian Bell to re-join the England test side for the series against Sri Lanka When left out of Englands tour of South Africa, many wondered whether it might be the end of the 34-year-olds Test career, especially as hed pondered his retirement from international cricket following Englands most recent Ashes triumph, the fifth of his career. What else is there for him to achieve?But with the sad news of Taylors enforced exit, suddenly there is a spot open for Bell and he is hungry to fill it, scoring 174 in Warwickshires opening County Championship game of the season against Hampshire. Also, lest we forget, Bell loves batting at five! In the 60 of his 205 Test innings he has batted there, Bell has hit nine of his 22 hundreds - his average of 48.25 bettering his career 42.69.Gary Ballance Ballance and Joe Root could be reunited in Englands middle order Potentially the next cab off the rank is Ballance, who played understudy as the spare batsman for the tour of South Africa. Dropped mid-Ashes last year when struggling to perfect a top-order technique batting at three, a move lower down the order could see him feel considerably more comfortable.Plus, Ballance hardly failed too greatly in his early efforts in Test cricket, scoring 1,194 runs in his first 15 Tests at an average of 47.76, so he would argue he deserves another shot. It could come at five, or perhaps England look to plug him in again at three, with doubts remaining over Compton, a man yet to get going this season.James Vince Nick Knight has called for England to pick Hampshires James Vince at three for the first Test against Sri Lanka Vince is another potential floating option should England choose for a greater middle-order shake-up. Long earmarked for Test success, the 25-year-old is a regular in Englands white-ball squads. Squads being the optimum word, as Vinces role has mainly been that of chief benchwarmer, with just four T20I - albeit impressive - performances to his name, and one rained off ODI against Ireland last summer.While its obvious the management like having him around the set-up, the main hindrance to Test recognition was seemingly a poor 2015 in the County Championship for Hampshire, Vince averaging only 28.58 as he struggled with the step-up from Division Two. But he has started well this year, striking a vital 119 against the reigning county champions no less, having come to the crease with his side 9-1 following Yorkshires mammoth 593-9 declared.Jonny Bairstow Could England pick Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler? Bairstow smashed a first-class career-best 246 in that Yorkshire innings, before smiting 198 against Surrey on Monday. Moving the wicketkeeper-batsman back up to five in the order would free up space for England to bring back Jos Buttler at seven. It would also mean that Bairstow - who had a tricky time of it behind the stumps in South Africa - can give up the gloves and focus solely on batting.It may be that Buttler is still absent from the side for the first Test against Sri Lanka, what with his IPL commitments for Mumbai Indians, but England could still choose to relieve Bairstow of the gloves and perhaps give an opportunity to talented keeper-batsmen like Adam Wheater of Hampshire or Surreys Ben Foakes.Jason Roy Surreys Jason Roy starred for England at the World T20 His place in Englands white-ball sides seemed under threat after a poor series in South Africa with just a combined 120 runs over seven ODI and T20I innings at the top of the order, but he bounced back emphatically at the World T20. Roy smashed 183 runs in six innings, at a strike-rate of 148.78, producing three particularly vital knocks to help England navigate their way to the final.Roy hit 43 off 16 balls in the record run-chase against South Africa, 43 off 39 against Sri Lanka to help book a semi-final spot, and then 78 off 44 in that semi win over New Zealand. His opportunity in Test cricket could come far sooner than expected. Trevor Bayliss is a big fan, and first division cricket this year batting at five for Surrey could be enough to persuade him to plump for Roy. Who would YOU pick in Englands middle order? Let us know by commenting below if viewing on skysports.com or tweet us @SkyCricket...Then head to Sky Sports News HQ and Sky Sports digital platforms on Thursday morning for first news of Englands Test squad to play Sri Lanka. Also See: Englands options: Openers Pundits pick England squad WATCH: Skys summer of cricket England fixtures/results Nike Air Vapormax Run Utility Sale .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. Nike Vapormax Plus Black Cheap . -- Bryant McKinnie came out of his stance and lowered his shoulder into a practice squad player, causing a crisp thud to reverberate in the Miami Dolphins practice bubble. http://www.airvapormaxwholesale.com/vapormax-off-white-wholesale.html . -- Quarterback Will Finch threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns, and Yannick Harou rushed in two scores as the No. Laceless Vapormax Cheap . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Nike Vapormax Plus Discount . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. A year ago, if you were to make a bet on whether or not legendary South Korean player Kang Ambition Chan-yong would make his first World Championship or retire, the odds would have most likely sided with the latter. Today, however, Ambition has not only made the World Championship on his new club, Samsung Galaxy, but hes possibly playing some of the best League of Legends of his career, captaining these upstarts from SSG to the quarterfinals as the top seed coming out of the Group of Death.ESPN spoke to Ambition following the teams 5-1 group stage run that was capped off by a 23-minute blowout of Europes Splyce.Generally speaking, coming into the tournament we first thought that the group stage was going to be really difficult, Ambition said. But we finally made it through, and were hoping to reach the semifinals, at least.Ambition has been a part of some of the most talented teams in South Korean League history. He was famously the mid laner for the MiG/Azubu/CJ Entus Blaze squad that won the first domestic league in South Korea and were always considered a threat to make a deep run in a tournament. Unfortunately, through his four years of playing on the Blaze/CJ Entus roster, he was never able to make it to the pinnacle of international competition.Looking at the record weve been making, I think Samsung Galaxy is the strongest team Ive been on [in my career], he said.Transitioning has been a key part to Ambitions renaissance in 2016. Not switching teams from CJ Entus to Samsung Galaxy, but switching positions, too, as Ambition was a mid laner for the first few years of his career before becoming a jungler in the 2015 season on CJ Entus. After having a limited champion pool and so-so play through his first year as a jungler, hes come into his own, taking over the responsibilities of being Samsungs veteran leader this year.There are a lot of factors that made me change to [becoming a] jungler, he said. Thee [number] one thing was that I was pretty confident to play as a jungler.dddddddddddd I was confident I could become a really good jungler, and from a longtime perspective, I thought I could perform better as a jungler [than a mid laner].When asked if he feels whether he is one of the best junglers in the world currently, he said yes.Samsungs road to Worlds wasnt an easy one. After being terrorized by KT Rolster throughout the entire year without picking up a single map win, KT once again thwarted SSG by eliminating them in the summer domestic playoffs in a one-sided sweep. In the Korean Regional Qualifiers, however, Ambition & Co. were able to strike back with a best-of-five victory that pried the KT Rolster monkey off their back, opening the doors to the World Championship.Samsung [started] from the bottom, Ambition said. People could watch us grow, and I think thats why [they] think were such a fun team [to watch].Honestly speaking, I dont care who we meet in the [quarterfinals], he said. But I think Edward Gaming is the strongest out of the second-place teams from groups.A domestic champion, IEM world champion, and on the road to a Summoners Cup title, Ambition has nearly completed everything possible. However, one moment still sticks out: Lee Faker Sang-hyeoks debut game in the spring of 2013, where he solo-killed Ambition in the mid lane and almost instantly took the title of the worlds best mid from that second forward. Three years later, he might finally have a chance to make amends.Of course I want to get revenge against Faker, he said. But I think its more important to win the game than focusing on [revenge].I think its not just luck [were here], Ambition said. I think Samsung is one of the top teams among the 16 teams here. Were proving ourselves by our performance. ' ' '