Haseeb Hameed is made captain of the England Lions for their Test tour of Sri Lanka next month

England yesterday made Haseeb Hameed captain of the Lions and backed him to play the expansive game he will need to force his way back into Test contention.

Hameed will lead the second-string in two ‘Tests’ against Sri Lanka next month, with England convinced he still has a future at the highest level despite struggling on two returns to the side since a serious finger injury ended the dream start to his international career.

And the orthodox Hameed, 26 next week, will look to continue in the more expansive manner that was a feature of his play with Notts last summer as he attempts to prove he can adapt to the ultra-attacking style of the Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum Test revolution.

England performance director Mo Bobat backed Haseeb Hameed to return to the Test side

The batsman has been made captain of the England Lions for their Test match tour of Sri Lanka

‘Haseeb developed a bit of a reputation for batting attritionally but, off the back of a difficult winter at the Ashes, he went back into county cricket and dealt with his personal disappointment really well,’ said England performance director Mo Bobat.

‘He adapted brilliantly and all summer played a progressive style regardless of what Ben and Brendon were doing. You only have to look at his numbers to see he scored a decent number of runs at a decent rate. He went back to some of the attacking options I saw when he was a lot younger.’

Hameed, and white-ball captain Tom Abell, will be joined by a new Lions coach in Neil Kileen, who this week replaced Jon Lewis as England’s lead fast bowling coach. And a familiar face will be alongside them in Sri Lanka in Graeme Swann, who continues his consulting role.

‘When Rob Key started last year we talked about getting the right characters and personalities around our players, people who embody the type of cricket we want to play, and Swanny came to mind,’ said Bobat.

Hameed was dropped after averaging just 10 with the bat in the Ashes series last winter

Bobat said Hameed can play the expansive game needed to get into Ben Stokes’s team

‘He brings great energy and you want that in the environment because it’s infectious. It just seems a no brainer to have him around our players.’

Bobat reacted to the imminent signing of Steve Smith by Sussex, as revealed by Sportsmail yesterday, by insisting it will not impact on England’s Ashes chances. But he admitted he was ‘disappointed’ English players are not treated in the same way.

‘Any good player coming to our domestic system will raise the standard so in many ways it’s good,’ said Bobat. ‘You could argue it will help him prep for the Ashes, but If we play to our potential we’re a match for anyone, so all we can do is focus on that.

‘It is disappointing our players are not afforded the same opportunities. I’d love to get more of our players into first-class cricket overseas but it’s notoriously difficult.’