England coach plays favourites: Warne

Australian great Shane Warne says Jos Buttler has been "hard done by" and lost his spot to Matt Prior as England's Test wicket-keeper due to coach favouritism. 

Recalled England coach Peter Moores used to coach Prior at county club Sussex and brought him into the England side initially during the West Indian tour of England in 2007.

"I think that it is a Moores call, the old Sussex connection with Prior. I think it is, as I said, a teacher's pet selection and Buttler has been hard done by," Warne wrote in a column for The Telegraph.

"Prior has been a fantastic cricketer for England. But because of his Achilles injury he comes into the Test with hardly any form behind him. 

"He needs to go back to county cricket, score hundreds, keep well, and prove to everyone he is still hungry.

"It should be a case that Buttler needs to mess up in order to lose his England place, not the other way round. 

"Buttler should not be going back to county cricket."

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He went on to say selecting Prior was a "backwards step" and that England captain Alastair Cook must be "really aggressive"and send a message to the world that they are ready to regain the No.1 spot when they take on Sri Lanka this week.

The two-Test series starting at Lord's on Thursday will be England’s first assignment since the 5-0 Ashes drubbing at the hands of Australia.

"If Cook wants to stay boring and be the same old England by bowling wide of off stump and trying to build up pressure slowly then he has chosen the wrong path. 

"It was proved in Australia that it is an approach which does not work and it will be fascinating to see if they have learnt from losing the Ashes 5-0. 

"Test cricket has evolved rapidly and Cook must sense the moment.

"This is the time for new beginnings. 

"If you are going to rebuild the team then the keeper is vital because he sets the tone and standards in the field. 

"England dropped (Prior) for a reason. He was not doing the job properly. 

"He has only kept in one first-class match before this Test, I hope this is not a teacher's, or should I say coach's pet selection."

Warne's mate, dumped England batsman Kevin Pietersen, agreed Buttler should've been picked.

"I find it unbelievable that we have started the summer with Buttler not an automatic choice for England's Test side," he wrote in his own column for the newspaper. 

"I look at Buttler and it reminds me of when I started my Test career.

"The perceptions are the same. People said I was not the finished article and didn't think I was ready for Test cricket.

"But when you find someone like Buttler with that X-factor then you must give them the chance. They will find a way to succeed."

Meanwhile, Warne also weighed in on the Mankad debate saying he has no issues with what Sachitra Senanayake did.

"If it had been a one-off, with no warning, then you would ask serious questions about Sri Lanka. 

"But 24 twos at Lord's? It is a small ground and I smell a rat. Either it was very poor fielding or he was backing up too far.

"For the actual dismissal Buttler was barely out of his ground. But when you put it into context, rather than jump up and down and scream about the Spirit of Cricket, then I would have done it a lot earlier.

"I would have run him out after four or five twos and not waited until the next match.

"But it has added spice to the series and hands England the motivation to attack Sri Lanka verbally and set the tone for the summer."