England are set to take Durham all rounder Ben Stokes on his first Ashes tour in the hope that he will perform better than in his last Aussies trip, and Monty Panesar may also get a chance.
South Africa fought back in the afternoon session on the third day of the fourth Test on Sunday, reducing England to 138 for six in their second innings and restricting the hosts to a lead of 274.
Virat Kohli is the first Indian captain to win two series in Sri Lanka.
An old-fashioned green-top pitch at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound was certainly a mitigating factor in England's performance, especially early on when West Indies' four-pronged pace attack exploited the favourable conditions.
England's comprehensive Ashes victory over Australia was built on a purposeful and well-drilled team that combined the perfect blend of youth and experience.
Check out the lowest totals in Ashes history after England bowled Australia out for 60 in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
Two wickets from successive balls in Ben Stokes's third over removed Quinton de Kock (5) and Faf du Plessis (0) and ended faint South Africa hopes of mounting a rearguard action in pursuit of their nominal target of 492.
Ben Stokes can recover to become one of England's best ever players after his World Twenty20 nightmare when he was hit for four sixes in the last over of the final, team mate Stuart Broad said on Wednesday.
'James Anderson was unavailable for selection in the Test squad as he continues his rehabilitation from a calf injury,' the ECB said in a statement.
India will aim to soar higher with the return of Virat Kohli against Joe Root's England
Victory in the fourth Test at Old Trafford meant the Australians could not lose the series and the 2-2 scoreline meant they retained the urn.
England batsman Joe Root will miss the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh after fracturing his thumb, with Ian Bell replacing him, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Monday.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin surged to the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after a superb outing in the first Test against the West Indies in Antigua which the visiting side won by an innings and 92 runs.
Rohit Sharma won the prestigious Maruti Suzuki ESPN Cricinfo award for the third year in a row.
England's bowlers are wary of Indian skipper Virat Kohli's recent good form and are looking to come up with plans to get him out early.
As fanciful a scenario as it may seem but Kevin Pietersen says he could yet be open to the idea of coming out of retirement to play for England again if ECB boss Giles Clarke exits the scene.
He was among the key plotters of England's historic 2012 Test triumph in India and former coach Andy Flower sees no reason why an encore is not possible this year as he believes the visitors have enough 'formidable players' to challenge the upbeat hosts.
'Out of 7 innings England played before the Oval Test, their bottom half outscored the top-half in 4!' notes Rajneesh Gupta.
Following is a factbox on the first Test match between Australia and England, which starts on Thursday:
'I've seen some remarkable cricket moments in my life but that is the best I've seen in over 50 years. @benstokes38 saved the Ashes and gave magical inspirational innings. Even better than his World Cup performance. Well done @ECB_cricket'
Jofra Archer's first five-wicket haul in Test cricket put England in command on a weather-affected opening day of the third Ashes Test at Headingley on Thursday as they bowled Australia out for 179.
South African pace bowler Dale Steyn has revealed that he would be continuing to use his 'secret weapon' of variation in his delivery stride and bowling action in the upcoming series against Australia.
Joe Root's unbeaten 149 put England in complete control of the final Test against India and they picked up the wickets of openers Murali Vijay and Gautam Gambhir before lunch on the third day on Sunday.
The West Indies trailed England by 244 runs at the close of the second day of the first Test in Antigua on Tuesday after Shivnarine Chanderpaul applied the brakes to any potential batting slump
The Australia batsman has overtaken New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and is now only nine points behind India skipper Virat Kohli.
England extended their first-innings lead to 85 runs before heavy rain halted their progress before tea on the second day of the fourth Test against India on Friday.
Images from Day 2 of the 2nd Ashes Test played at Lord's Cricket Ground, London, on Thursday.
The Trent Bridge Triumph was India's second biggest win against England in England. Rajneesh Gupta serves up the interesting numbers from the third Test.
India suffered a heartbreaking 31-run loss to England as skipper Virat Kohli's heroics went in vain amid yet another abject batting capitulation in a riveting opening Test in Birmingham.
Spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali made a comeback to Test cricket as they were included in England's 13-man squad for the first Test against India, starting in Edgbaston, on August 1.
England's one-day international captain Eoin Morgan and batsman Alex Hales will not tour Bangladesh due to security concerns, the England and Wales Cricket board (ECB) announced on Sunday.
England made a poor start to their Australia tour on Thursday with their fancied bowling attack forced to toil by a second-string Western Australia Chairman's XI at Perth.
Factbox on major ball-tampering incidents in cricket
A brilliant partnership between James Taylor and Jos Buttler helped England beat India by three wickets at the WACA on Friday and enter the tri-series final, where they will meet Australia.
Images from Day 1 of the third Test between England and India, at Leeds, on Wednesday.
