HAMPSHIRE captain James Vince has missed out on the chance to play in the Ageas Bowl’s third Test match after being released to play in the Specsavers County Championship match against Essex.

Vince, who was named in a 14-man squad as batting cover on his home ground for Jonny Bairstow, left England training at West End shortly before midday yesterday, ahead of the fourth Specsavers Test against India.

He has joined his Hampshire teammates for their rain-delayed county championship fixture against Essex at Chelmsford.

England have decided Jos Buttler is the “right man” to keep wicket for them in place of Bairstow.

Captain Joe Root confirmed that Buttler will be behind the stumps, having stepped in for Bairstow when the Yorkshireman broke his left middle finger mid-match at Trent Bridge last week.

Root also announced all-rounder Moeen Ali’s return for his first Test of the summer at the expense of dropped specialist batsman Ollie Pope - whose number four position will be filled by Bairstow, while Sam Curran is back as well for the injured Chris Woakes.

Explaining the reasons for Bairstow playing as a batsman only as England seek to close out series victory, Root said: “It was a medical call.

“He didn’t seem fit to be able to keep 100 per cent in a Test match for five days, and that was the call that was made.

“He will be disappointed. But ultimately we’ve got to make sure we do the best thing for this team to win this game, and I believe Jos is the right man to do it this time.”

Moeen gives England an extra spin option as well as batting depth at number seven, after his brilliant all-round performance for Worcestershire against Yorkshire at Scarborough last week.

Root said: “He’s in fine form; he’s gone back to his county - and what you want from international players is for them to go back and prove a point.

“That’s exactly what Moeen’s done in the last couple of weeks.”

As England bid for an unassailable 3-1 lead following their 203-run defeat in Nottingham, Root added: “It’s a big week, no doubt.

“We under-performed last week - that’s the bottom line - and we have a great opportunity to put that right this time around.

“I think one of our big strengths as a squad is our strength of character - and at home in particular, we’re very good at bouncing back after difficult weeks.

“We’ve done it time and time again before, and we don’t expect anything less from the group this time as well.”

Root believes the England squad can only get stronger due to competition for places in the team and is confident the players will use this as motivation against India.

He added: “At the top of the order guys keep coming in and making it very difficult for someone else to make their way back in if they’ve got injuries.

“Hopefully this is a great chance for these two guys to keep pushing each other to improve and to take their game to the next level.

“Jos has got this opportunity for this game and potentially the rest of this series - we’ll have to wait and see.

“I think that’s a good thing in terms of development for this group.

“If you’re an international keeper you want to be doing it all the time. We’re very fortunate to have two fantastic options in Jos and Jonny and hopefully the guys use it in the right way to motivate themselves to improve.”

This will be England’s first Test at The Ageas Bowl following the draw against Sri Lanka in 2011 and the win against India in 2014.

England: Cook, Jennings, Root (c), Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler (w), Moeen Ali, Curran, Rashid, Broad, Anderson.

India: V Kohli (Captain), S Dhawan, KL Rahul, C Pujara, A Rahane, R Pant (wkt), H Pandya, R Ashwin, I Sharma, M Shami, J Bumrah