Jacob Bethell says he would 'love to stay at number 3' in England's Test team

Bethell struck 134 batting at number 3 in England's last Test match, which was against Australia in Sydney in January, while he was impressive in the white-ball side at the T20 World Cup.

The 22-year-old is currently at the Indian Premier League but has not yet played a game with Royal Challengers Bengaluru this season while the English first-class campaign has already started.

It has been suggested that Bethell could move up to open the batting if England decide to bring in a middle-order batter to replace the out of form Zak Crawley.

It would be similar to when Joe Root moved up to open the batting in 2013 to allow the selectors to pick Jonny Bairstow at the time. While Bethell is open to the idea he would prefer to stay at number 3.

"I'd love to stay at number 3, if it was up to me. I really like the position," Bethell said on the Sky Cricket podcast.

"I don't think there's a massive difference between number 3 and the top. Someone like Rooty had to start and open the batting and then slid back down to No. 4.

"If that's what they want me to do, I'd be more than happy to do it, but I like number 3 and I'd love to cement that spot as mine if possible."

The left-handed batter has drawn some criticism for staying in India and not playing while domestic county season is well underway already, but has defended his decision.

"I don't think there's a right or a wrong way to do it, right?" Bethell said. "We've seen last year, for me personally, that by not playing cricket for a little while, I came into the end of that India (Test) series a bit undercooked, which was a learning for me to take on board.

"But actually, if you look at where I was last year after coming back from the IPL (in which he made two appearances), I was flying going into that West Indies [white-ball] series, and I feel in a similar position now.

"I feel in a better position now than I was a month ago after the (T20) World Cup, just from getting time around the guys over here and the pure standard of cricket in India and the IPL.

"Every nets session, you've got hundreds of eyes on you, be it your coaches or the other players who are also looking at you, going, 'Is this guy good? Is he not?' You've got the people in the crowd with their phones on. You get exposed to a lot of stuff.

"You might not get the amount of time in the middle as (you would in) the County Championship and playing four rounds of that, but I think in terms of the ability to actually just continue doing what you want to do when there are loads of eyes on you, (being in India) is really important for me personally going forwards."