Mason Crane and Mark Stoneman have been handed the chance to secure places on the Ashes tour after receiving their first call-ups for the three-match series against West Indies that begins with the first ever day-night Test in England, at Edgbaston next Thursday.

The uncapped pair are among three changes to the squad that closed out the 3-1 series victory over South Africa at Old Trafford on Monday, with Chris Woakes returning to fitness following a side strain and Keaton Jennings, Liam Dawson and Steven Finn all dropped.

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Stoneman, the left-hander who has struck three centuries and averaged 59 in first-class cricket since moving from Durham to Surrey this season, is guaranteed to make his debut in place of Jennings who, for all the promise shown with a century on debut in Mumbai last December, has averaged 15 in his first home Test summer and suffered some repetitive dismissals.

Joe Root conceded after his first series win as captain that plans for the defence of the Ashes in Australia, which starts in November, would be a consideration against West Indies (the world’s ninth-ranked side) and thus Stoneman has a golden chance to secure a spot. It is a tough gig, of course, with 11 predecessors as Alastair Cook’s opening partner since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012.

Crane, a 20-year-old leg-spinner, replaces his Hampshire team-mate Dawson and is considered a possible Ashes wildcard after playing grade cricket in Australia last season and earning a call-up to the New South Wales team in the Sheffield Shield.

His selection now owes much to the return of Woakes, the Warwickshire seamer who established himself last summer with 34 wickets in six Tests but missed two months of this season with a torn side muscle suffered at the start of the Champions Trophy.

Woakes, the poster boy for his county ground’s hosting of the day-night Test, proved his fitness with five wickets in 20 overs against Middlesex this week and will now challenge Toby Roland-Jones for the position of third seamer -, an interesting sub-plot given the latter’s eight wickets on debut at The Oval.

Whether Crane makes the first XI against West Indies will hinge on whether England revert to playing the extra bowler, something that felt forced during Dawson’s first two Tests this summer, when Woakes, an extremely capable No8, was unavailable.

England closed out the win with an additional batsman at No5 in Dawid Malan and looked more balanced. The left-hander has been retained in the squad despite a top score of only 17, meaning Alex Hales, in the form of his life for Nottinghamshire in white-ball cricket and recent scorer of a first-class double century from the same position, must wait.

On the dropping of Jennings the national selector, James Whitaker, said: “He will return to Durham and will look to recapture the form that earned him selection in the first place. I am sure he will find his confidence and look to score runs in the remaining matches this season.”

The squad begin training under lights on Monday evening at Edgbaston and there is a chance that Ottis Gibson, the bowling coach, may yet remain in the set-up for the West Indies series as talks continue over his expected switch to become South Africa’s new head coach.

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With the Proteas not playing again until October and compensation still to be worked out between the two boards, England have no issue with Gibson remaining in charge of the bowling plans against a set of batsmen he knows well from his previous time in the West Indies camp.

Who replaces Gibson before the Ashes remains to be seen. Stuart Barnes (Surrey), Andy Pick (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Welch (Derbyshire) and Jon Lewis (Sussex) are all highly thought of but England will also look overseas.

Trevor Bayliss, the head coach, is keen for a coach with international playing experience and tactical nous will hold greater importance than technical work.

England squad: J Root (Yorkshire, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), J Anderson (Lancashire), J Bairstow (Yorkshire, wk), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), A Cook (Essex), M Crane (Hampshire), D Malan (Middlesex), T Roland-Jones (Middlesex), B Stokes (Durham), M Stoneman (Surrey), T Westley (Essex), C Woakes (Warwickshire).