Bairstow to make England debut

England today handed Jonny Bairstow his international debut in their final NatWest Series match against India in Cardiff.

Bairstow was brought into the squad as cover on Thursday when Ben Stokes aggravated an old finger injury in training.

With the Durham batsman failing to recover sufficiently, 21-year-old Yorkshireman Bairstow - whose father David played for England in four Tests and 21 one-day internationals - got his first opportunity at this level.

He came into an England team in which James Anderson was rested. Jade Dernbach therefore returned to the pace attack, and there was also room for second spinner Samit Patel following Stuart Broad's season-ending shoulder injury.

Alastair Cook won his fifth consecutive toss of a series England have already clinched, with a 2-0 lead and just this day-night match to play, and chose to bowl first under cloud cover.

India, yet to win a match of any description against their hosts this summer, were without Praveen Kumar - who has a twisted ankle and was replaced by his fellow seamer Vinay Kumar.

However, rain arrived just before the scheduled start and the ground staff were quick to get the covers on.