Jos Buttler’s “unique gifts” as an attacking batsman earned him a Test recall, as new national selector Ed Smith revealed his first England squad at Lord’s.

Buttler will bat at seven against Pakistan next week when he will play his first Test since December 2016, with England hoping he can carry his brilliant IPL Twenty20 form into Test cricket despite not playing first-class cricket since last September.

Buttler returns to England from the IPL tomorrow, but championship cricket has now stopped until next month while the counties play 50-over cricket, leaving him no chance to acclimatise.

Smith said his first job as selector was to work out how to improve England’s faltering top five and his solution was to drop James Vince, despite his 201 for Hampshire on Monday. Joe Root has agreed to bat at No 3 for the “good of the team”, while Jonny Bairstow is promoted to five and will continue to keep wicket, leaving Buttler to play the counter-attacking role at seven.

England have wisely preserved Bairstow as keeper, knowing he is a player who thrives on responsibility and the negative effect taking the gloves away from him would have been a gamble. Bairstow was not a problem that needed fixing.