Former England captain Michael Atherton is confident Surrey’s Mark Stoneman ticks all the boxes to be a success as a top-order batsman in Test cricket.

The 30-year-old batsman, who arrived at the Kia Oval from Durham this season, is set to make his Test debut in the opener against the West Indies on Thursday.

The match is the first-ever day-night Test Match to be held on these shores and Atherton, who now works as a pundit for Sky Sports, knows it will be no easy start to Stoneman’s international career.

"Mark Stoneman fully deserves his chance. He's been a consistent run scorer at the top of the order whether for Surrey this year or Durham in recent occasions," he said.

"He's 30 years old, he's pretty experienced, he knows his game and he's in good form. That's a big thing. When you come into Test cricket you want to be in good form and confident.

“He ticks all those boxes. As we've seen from the last 11 batsmen, it's not easy at the top of the order.

"It's probably not going to be easy here in a day-night game when the ball might nip around a bit. So it might be challenging, but what an opportunity for him.”

Meanwhile Stoneman’s Surrey team-mate Kevin Pietersen has backed Jason Roy to be a hit in the England five-day side at some point in the near future.

Pietersen played two T20 games for Surrey earlier this season and believes the young batsman who has played 46 ODIs and 22 T20 internationals could do a job at number six in England’s Test team.

“He has gone through a rough period – he was dropped by England and is worrying about his place,” Pietersen said.

“But he shouldn’t be worrying about his place – and he should be playing at six in the Test side. He’s got that much talent.

“He whacks, proper, proper bowlers, he reverse sweeps pace. England should say ‘you’ve got a 10-year career’ and give him the self-belief to go and ride it out.”