England should've picked Hameed for Ashes - Lloyd

Former England batter and coach David Lloyd says the tourists should have selected Nottinghamshire opener Haseeb Hameed for the ongoing Ashes series.

England are 2-0 down in the five-match series after heavy defeats in Perth and Brisbane.

Hameed, 28, made four half-centuries in 10 Tests but has not played for England since struggling in the 2021-22 Ashes, in which he was dropped for the fifth Test.

TV and radio pundit Lloyd told BBC Radio York that Hameed is "absolutely belting the door down" to get into England's Test team.

Nottinghamshire captain Hameed hit 1,258 runs, including four centuries, at an average of 66.21 in leading his side to the County Championship title this year. Only Surrey's Dom Sibley scored more runs in Division One.

"He is a far, far better player than when he was that young prodigy at Lancashire," added Lloyd. "He looks a Test match player."

Hameed made his Test debut aged 19 in India in 2016 and impressed in the first three Tests before having to return home because of a broken finger.

He subsequently struggled at Lancashire but revived his career by moving to Nottinghamshire in 2019 - making 15 of his 19 first-class centuries at Notts and earning an England recall in the 2021 home series against India.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett have been England's preferred openers for most of the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes era since 2022, scoring 2,564 runs together in 59 innings at an average of 44.2 - including four century stands.

However, they have put on only 53 runs together in the two Ashes defeats so far. Duckett has scored only 64 runs in the series, though Crawley came back from a pair in the first Test to make 76 and 44 in Brisbane.

"England have a plan of how they want to play and Crawley is in that plan," said Lloyd.

"In this last Test, Crawley has done OK but he hasn't got a hundred."