James Vince is poised for a Test recall in place of Jonny Bairstow if he fails to recover from his broken finger in time to play in the fourth Specsavers Test against India next week.

England will name the squad on Thursday with Vince initially included as cover but he has a great chance of one more attempt at a Test career with Bairstow struggling to be fit after fracturing the top of his left middle finger.

Vince was dropped by Ed Smith, the national selector, when he named his first squad in May after averaging 24 from 13 Tests. Smith blamed his failure to make big scores saying his “cricketing history has not produced the runs it should have done”. An innings of 147 in the current round of championship matches against Nottinghamshire was well timed by Vince and swelled his average this season to 56.46 in division one.

If he plays Vince will bat at four allowing Ollie Pope to drop to five, a position that could be easier for a young player to make the transition to Test cricket after three low scores in his first two matches for England.

Moeen Ali provides another batting option and has just scored a double hundred for Worcestershire but England are reluctant to pick another left-hander given the dangers posed by Ishant Sharma and Ravi Ashwin.