Emilio Gay, left, Rehan Ahmed, centre, and Ollie Robinson are all contenders to be called up for the first England Test squad of the summer

England's attempt to rebuild from the rubble of the Ashes is about to begin.

In the months since the horror show in Australia was completed in Sydney, there have been revelations about Harry Brook's nightclub punch-up, an Ashes review, a broken cheek for captain Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum and Rob Key keeping their jobs and the impending arrival of Marcus North as the new national selector.

Now a squad for the first Test against New Zealand on 4 June is due to be named, possibly as soon as Tuesday. The players will gather for a camp in Loughborough on 25 May.

In choosing their group to take on the stiff challenge of the Black Caps at Lord's, England will have to make decisions over their opening pair, spinner and pace bowlers.

Zak Crawley might wonder why he is set to become an Ashes fall guy when so many around him have survived.

Crawley can have no complaints. No opener in Test history has been given as many opportunities at the top of the order as Crawley's 104 innings and averaged less than his 30.52.

His early season form for Kent has been wretched, with a top score of 44 in five matches. Crawley's hack to be bowled in the second innings against Gloucestershire suggested a break from red-ball cricket might be no bad thing.

Ben Duckett also had a disappointing Ashes, albeit with more credit in the bank than Crawley. England would be loathe to change both openers.

England rarely go back, and previous Test openers Dom Sibley and Haseeb Hameed have not made a compelling case to be recalled. New faces like Somerset's James Rew, Glamorgan's Asa Tribe and the Durham pair of Ben McKinney and Emilio Gay have emerged.

With 12 first-class hundreds at the age of 22, left-hander Rew is probably the best red-ball batter in the country without a Test cap.

A middle-order player by trade, England asked about the possibility of Rew opening for Somerset, which happened for the first time against Glamorgan over the weekend. Rew was out for four and nought.

Failures happen to all batters, especially openers, but Rew might have to settle for a place as the reserve batter in the squad, if England decide they want cover.

Perhaps England's new opener comes down to a straight fight between McKinney and Gay. Both are specialist openers – former Northants man Gay is pushed down to number three for Durham. Both were on the England Lions trip to Australia during the winter.

At 26, Gay has done more to push his case in the early part of the season, with three centuries in the Championship.

Yet 21-year-old McKinney has been on England's radar for some time. He caught the eye with a century for the Lions against a strong Australia A attack in Sydney at the beginning of last year.

Beyond the openers, the middle order is the most settled part of the England team. Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Brook and captain Stokes will be in the XI.

Duckett hits unbeaten 203 in Notts draw with Surrey

Liked by Flintoff & different from Crawley – is Gay England's next opener?

Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed has taken 22 Test wickets for England in his five Tests

Spin bowling was the area of England's Ashes masterplan left most exposed in Australia. After asking Shoaib Bashir to learn on the job, England then turned to batting all-rounder Will Jacks for four Tests, with predictable results.

In that sense, Jacks is the man in possession, and the battle to be England's number one spinner has appeared to be wide open.

There would be an irony in England ignoring Bashir, who was picked for Test cricket when he could not get a game for Somerset, and now could be left out despite playing regularly for new county Derbyshire.

Jack Leach remains probably the most reliable spinner in the country, while leg-spinner Mason Crane is bowling well for Glamorgan eight years after he won his only England cap. Nottinghamshire left-armer Liam Patterson-White, Sussex off-spinner Jack Carson and Northants all-rounder Calvin Harrison are all respected in county cricket.

Perhaps it is time for England to invest in Rehan Ahmed. In 2022, Ahmed was an original Bazball pick when, at 18, he became the youngest man to play for England.

He has hovered on the fringe of the England team since, with none of his five caps coming at home or as the sole spinner.

As a young leg-spinner, Ahmed will have times when his bowling goes off the boil, but he also has an X-factor. Root and Bethell are reasonable options if England need a spinner to hold an end.

With six first-class hundreds, Ahmed is an ideal number eight, meaning England would never have to worry about the tail-end batting as they rotate their seamers. When Stokes retires, Ahmed could move up the order as England's all-rounder.

Leicestershire's Ahmed is currently at the Indian Premier League, though his Delhi Capitals face a battle to reach the latter stages. England have also shown that an IPL stint is not a barrier to Test selection.

With England at a low ebb, Ahmed would bring some mystery, exuberance and excitement.

Jofra Archer has been in good form in the IPL, taking 15 wickets for Rajasthan Royals

For all the talk of batting changes, it is England's pace-bowling department that is in the biggest state of flux.

This will be the first home summer since 2006 that England have been without all of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes. Given Mark Wood is unlikely to play Test cricket again, there is a changing of the guard among England's seamers.

Many – almost all – of England's latest breed of pacemen are not new-ball bowlers by trade. There have even been suggestions Stokes could be an option to open the bowling. It makes the decision to nudge Woakes into retirement look premature.

The picture is clouded by Jofra Archer's involvement at the IPL, probably delaying his England return until the second Test. Brydon Carse has a broken wrist.

Of the two seamers nailed on to be in the squad for the first Test – Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson – Tongue has just concussed Atkinson with two blows to the head during Nottinghamshire's Championship match against Surrey.

There are perhaps two or three pace-bowling spots up for grabs in the squad for the first Test, with plenty of candidates.

Matthew Potts has not had a sustained run in the England team and struggled when he was called into the team for the final Ashes Test. Surrey's Matthew Fisher was added to the Ashes squad when Wood was ruled out.

England have been in touch with the exiled Ollie Robinson, while Sam Cook has been in typically excellent form for Essex. Olly Stone, so unlucky with injuries, is back bowling with pace for Nottinghamshire.

Of the uncapped youngsters, Sonny Baker is a terrific prospect and ready to move on from two difficult white-ball debuts last year.

It is probably too soon for Lancashire's Mitchell Stanley, who is on England's radar despite playing only five first-class matches. Some insiders say he has the potential to be the best seamer in the country.

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The 92mph England fast bowler ready to move on from difficult debut

When England name the squad, it is likely to be followed by a round of media interviews from Key.

After the off-field problems in Australia, England imposed a midnight curfew for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup. Indications suggest it will remain in place for Stokes' Test team.

England were criticised for the thin nature of their backroom staff during the Ashes. In March, Key suggested they will not make any full-time appointments and instead will continue to use a rotating cast on an ad hoc basis.

That would leave questions on the support for the seamers. Tim Southee could be used again, while Troy Cooley is back on the payroll as elite national pace bowling lead.

Carl Hopkinson was used as a fielding coach for the white-ball team earl

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A Dutch cruise ship at the centre of an outbreak of hantavirus anchored on Sunday near Granadilla port, south-east Tenerife, Spain, allowing dozens of passengers from all over the world to begin making their way home.

The MV Hondius set off from Argentina on 1 April, with 175 passengers and crew on board, according to the operator, Oceanwide Expeditions.

Thirty-two left the cruise when it stopped on the island of St Helena on 24 April.

The first case of hantavirus was later confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 4 May.

Three passengers – a Dutch couple and a German woman – died after travelling on the ship, with two of them confirmed to have had the virus. The WHO has so far reported nine cases in total, seven confirmed and two suspected.

Here's how countries are dealing with the virus:

Twenty British nationals, one German national who lives in the UK and one Japanese passenger arrived at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside, north-west England late on Sunday.

They will remain in hospital for 72 hours to receive medical checks and regular testing, before being allowed to return home where they must self-isolate for a further 42 days.

The group was flown to Manchester Airport on a chartered flight, with the UK's Health Security Agency (UKHSA) saying "strict infection control measures" were in place throughout the journey.

Public Health Minister Sharon Hodgson said none of the passengers were symptomatic, but they will be monitored closely "as part of a precautionary isolation period".

"With no cases or symptoms among them and our stringent monitoring and isolation measures, the risk to the public remains extremely low," she added.

A total of 31 British nationals – a mix of passengers and crew – set sail on the cruise. Some disembarked before the first confirmed case of hantavirus was reported on 4 May.

Eighteen American passengers have returned to the US.

Sixteen of them, including a dual UK-US -national, are being screened at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in the city of Omaha and two are in Atlanta.

Two passengers, including one who displayed mild symptoms and travelled back in the charter plane's biocontainment unit, are being cared for at Emory University's Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center in Atlanta, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says.

HHS has advised the general public that the risk to them is "very, very low".

John Knox, of HHS, said on Monday that the returning Americans would undergo various health assessments over the coming days. They will then receive individual care plans, outlining whether they should isolate at home or if they need to remain at a facility, based on their condition and living situation.

A document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says people should self-isolate and be monitored for 42 days, during which time they should take their temperature once a day.

In total, six Canadians were on the ship, authorities have said. Four returned to British Columbia on Sunday after boarding a chartered flight from Tenerife.

They have not shown any symptoms, but will be self-isolating for at least 21 days as a precaution. The Public Health Agency of Canada has said this could be extended to 42 days, citing the hantavirus' incubation period.

It can take anywhere between one and eight weeks for symptoms to appear.

Two other Canadians – a couple – are self-isolating at their home in Ontario. Health Minister Sylvia Jones said on Monday neither have developed symptoms.

The EU's guidance is similar to the UK's, with citizens returning to their respective member nations advised to "undergo medical triage by trained healthcare professionals".

They should then self-isolate and monitor their symptoms for six weeks, seeking immediate medical help "if symptoms develop", according to advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

In the Netherlands, Dutch nationals who left MV Hondius on Sunday were flown to Eindhoven, and are now completing their quarantine period.

They were transported in vans directly to their home addresses, the government said, adding that those in isolation would be contacted daily by the relevant health officials "to ensure that any symptoms are identified and appropriate care can be provided promptly".

Thirteen Dutch nationals – eight passengers and five crew members – were on board the ship when it docked in Tenerife.

Fourteen Spanish nationals flown from Tenerife to Madrid are undergoing mandatory quarantine at a military hospital in the capital.

Residents of Tenerife, and the Canary Islands in general, had expressed concern about the cruise stopping there. But WHO officials insisted that the risk of wider contagion was low "because of how the virus works".

The ship has not docked directly in Tenerife – instead it is anchored out at sea and passengers are being ferried to Granadilla port, well away from residential areas.

The country has confirmed its first case of hantavirus after a French national developed systems while travelling on a chartered flight from Tenerife to Paris.

French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said a woman was isolating in Paris and her health was deteriorating, with 22 contact cases traced.

French PM Sébastien Lecornu had said over the weekend that all five French citizens travelling back from Spain would be "immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice".

German health authorities said on Monday that four people had arrived in the country overnight and were monitored in an isolation unit ‌at Frankfurt University Hospital.

The country's health ministry has said all four, who are not currently ​showing symptoms, were being transferred to their homes in ⁠Berlin, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein.

They will be "continuously and closely monitored for symptoms," Germany's federal health ministry said.

Local health authorities will decide on the specific measures to be taken.

A man who left the cruise in Saint Helena has tested positive for hantavirus since returning home.

The Swiss national is receiving care and his wife, who was travelling with him, has not shown any symptoms of the virus but is self-isolating as a precaution.

The risk to the public in Switzerland is low, the Federal Office of Public Health said in its most recent update.

Investigations are ongoing into how the outbreak started and if it originated in Argentina, where the ship began its journey.

The WHO has previously said the first two cases had "travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip which included visits to sites where the species of rat known to carry the virus was present".

Some Argentinian officials have said that is their leading hypothesis, but nothing has yet been confirmed.

The Andes strain of the virus, which is behind this outbreak, is mostly found in Argentina and Chile.

Among the crew of the MV Hondius are 38 people from the Philippines.

There are currently no recorded cases of hantavirus in the country, with officials saying the risk remains "extremely low".

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Consumer groups have urged customers of energy supplier Ovo not to panic after rival E.On announced plans to buy the company.

All existing tariffs will be honoured in full and their gas and electricity service will be unaffected under the planned deal, consumer group Which? said.

The takeover is set to create one of Britain's largest energy suppliers, vying with Octopus for the top spot.

E.On, which has 5.6 million customers, and Ovo, with four million customers, will continue to operate separately before any decision on a deal being approved, which could come later this year.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed, though previous reports have estimated it could be worth as much as £600m. The takeover will be checked by regulators, before any approval is granted.

Both firms said there would be no change for customers while regulators reviewed the deal and that tariffs – such as fixed deals – would be honoured for the duration of the contract.

Emily Seymour, energy editor at consumer group Which?, said: "If you're an Ovo customer, don't panic, your gas and electricity supply will continue as usual.

"E.On have assured customers that existing tariffs will be honoured in full and service will continue unchanged. You don't need to do anything and you're still able to switch supplier if you wish."

Sabrina Hoque, from the price comparison website Uswitch, said that Ovo customers might be nervous.

But she added that, even if the deal were approved, credit balances would be protected as customers would transferred across automatically.

Of given the go-ahead, the merged company would be battling Octopus for position as the biggest energy supplier in Britain. Domestic market share can be measured in different ways. If dual fuel consumers were counted once, then a merged E.On and Ovo would be bigger. If gas and electricity accounts were counted separately, then Octopus would be bigger.

Tom Goswell, at energy consultancy Cornwall Insight, said larger suppliers brought "stability, resilience, and the ability to invest" but could reduce consumer choice.

Marc Spieker, chief operating officer commercial at E.On, said that the UK was an important growth market for the company.

"Energy flexibility and electrification are becoming increasingly important and are critical to the success of the energy transition," he said.

"At E.On, we are passionate about developing solutions that enable customers across Europe to play an active role in making our energy systems both reliable and affordable."

Stephen Fitzpatrick, founder of Bristol-based Ovo, said the planned deal was the "right next step" for customers, staff and the zero-carbon transition.

The Unison union's south-west regional secretary, Tim Roberts, said: "Workers at Ovo will have understandable concerns about what this takeover could mean for their jobs, pay and conditions.

"E.On has a reputation for working constructively with unions and staff, which will be important as the deal progresses."

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