Jos Buttler taking gloves in absence of Jonny Bairstow 'the likely scenario' – Joe Root

First-choice Test wicket-keeper Bairstow picked up an ankle ligament injury while playing football ahead of the fourth one-day international against Sri Lanka, and is still in the recovery process. Root said Bairstow was making faster progress than was expected, but still remained a doubtful starter for the first Test in Galle, which begins on 6 November.

He accepted that Bairstow, who averages 37.19 with the bat in Test cricket, would be a big loss should he not recover in time, but remained confident in Buttler's ability to make up for his absence.

"Although Jonny will be a big loss, we've got great players that can come in and rebalance the team," Root told BBC Sport. "It's day-by-day with Jonny at the minute. He's actually made good strides and recovered a little bit quicker than we anticipated, but it's still a long way to go.

"It's obviously a big three-match series, so we need to weigh all that up and make a decision closer to the first game."

In addition to Buttler, who was likely to play as a specialist batsman in any case, England could also turn to Ben Foakes, the Surrey wicket-keeper, who was called up as cover for Bairstow. But the likelier course of action, according to Root, would be for Buttler to sport the gloves.

"That will probably be the likely scenario. But the reason we called Ben up is because he's a high-quality keeper and we give ourselves another way of balancing the side out and give ourselves a chance of winning.

"These are all different options we've given ourselves going into this series and it's a really nice position to be in."

That apart, the England captain says he has a fair idea of what the team for the first Test will look like, but performances in the warm-ups against Sri Lanka Board's XI would help the team management determine the best XI.

"I've got a strong idea of what the core of it looks like, but we have got some great options," he said. "We are going to make sure we've got a very balanced side that gives ourselves the best chance of winning in these conditions."