Wednesday 3 February 2016 11:49, UK
Captain Eoin Morgan says England have plenty of options if batsman Jason Roy has to sit out of Wednesday's opening one-day international against South Africa.
Morgan says the good form of the contenders for places in the batting line-up gives himself and the selectors "a really good problem" ahead of the series against The Proteas.
England defeated Pakistan 3-1 in their most recent one-day series - Roy scoring a century as they won the final match by 84 runs.
However, the Surrey opener had to sit out net practice on Monday, putting his participation in Bloemfontein in doubt.
"He obviously had a back spasm yesterday," Morgan revealed on Monday.
"He is expected to take part in training today and we will see how he comes out the back of that and, if a fitness test in the morning is required, he will go through that.
"He has not had it before, so it is a bit unexpected. It is one of those things that might cure itself over another night's sleep and a good stretch.
"We have discussed the different options we do have.
"I think it is a bit of a luxury really. We have Moeen Ali, who has batted at the top of the order, we have Joe Root, who could easily slip up the order, and James Taylor could then come in and bat at three."
Taylor scored 116 in the 163-run warm-up victory over South Africa A in Kimblerley at the weekend, but may miss out on selection on Wednesday if Roy is passed fit.
Morgan said: "It makes me proud of the squad when guys continue to score runs, even though they might not be in the hunt of gaining a place in the side.
"If he does play, he will be in great nick. If he doesn't, it just means he is next in.
"We are very flexible in our batting line-up and Ben Stokes coming back into the squad gives us another aggressive, attacking option. It is looking good.
"It is very exciting. It does create a bit of a problem when guys continue to score runs but it is a really good problem and it continues to expand our group of players in the lead-up to world tournaments.
"We are not trying to just have 11, 12 or 13 players, we are trying to get 17 players together and all pushing for places at any given time."
South Africa will be captained by one of the world's leading batsmen in the form of AB de Villiers.
However, the brilliant 31-year-old endured a tough end to the recent 2-1 Test series defeat to England and Morgan hopes his struggles will continue.
"Everybody goes through dry runs," said Morgan. "But the greats don't go through very long ones, so we will take it as it comes.
"He is a very good player, we will just try to execute the plans we have made and get him out."
