Michael Vaughan, former England skipper and cricket commentator, believes that the national Test side has been surprising everyone by breaking tradition through going without a regular number three in their batting line-up over the years, saying they have to get used to it.

However, it seems that Vaughan isn’t much displeased with a lot of changes in the Test squad over the last few years, and said the changes will be fascinating to see and exciting to watch.

On Wednesday, Joe Root handed the responsibility to all-rounder Ben Stokes to play at No.3 in the second Test against Sri Lanka and he became the ninth man in less than five years to bat at this position.

However, Stokes looked reasonably comfortable to bat at this position but he failed to convert the good start after making 19 which once again forced England to rethink over the slot, as they have now gone 50 Test innings without their number three scoring a century in the longest format of the game.

England's last successful number three, which is considered as crucial position to a strong batting line-up – was Jonathan Trott, who averaged 45.72 in 46 Tests before retiring during the 2013 Ashes.

Vaughan, who scored almost 1,500 runs batting at number three, told reporters, “We're going to have to get used to England not having a number three set in stone. It just may be they have different number threes. What England have is a huge amount of depth. As a bowler, when you look at a batting line-up and see so much strength going down to number nine, you know you might be out there for a long period of time.”

He signed off by saying, “I just think this Test match team might surprise us with a few decisions and batting formations over the next few years, but we'll just have to get used to it. We've almost got to rip up tradition with this group England have and accept there'll be personnel changes, different tactics. They've got so many options. It'll be fascinating to see and exciting to watch.”

(With BBC Inputs)