Jack Russell or Alec Stewart? Chris Read or Geraint Jones? Ben Foakes or Jonny Bairstow? The debate over whether the England Test team should pick a specialist wicketkeeper or give the gloves to a batter who can keep wicket is one which has long raged and is not likely to be settled any time soon.
No-one is questioning whether Bairstow should be in the team on the strength of his batting alone. A swashbuckling, run-a-ball 78 in his first Test innings since August last year in the two-wicket defeat to Australia at Edgbaston showed just how valuable he is.
But several dropped catches and a missed stumping as Australia took a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series led to plenty of pondering over whether specialist gloveman Foakes should have retained his place behind the stumps.
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Kumar Sangakkara and Eoin Morgan agree that Bairstow should keep his place as England’s wicketkeeper despite a series of errors at Edgbaston.
It is not a simple as it seems. Captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum have picked a line-up to match their aggressive, attacking approach to the Test game, and the emergence of Harry Brook as a devastating middle-order batter has made it even harder to accommodate Foakes alongside Bairstow.
“They’re picking the side because they know they need Bairstow back in,” former England captain Nasser Hussain told Sky Sports. “He epitomised ‘Bazball’ last year – he set it up at Trent Bridge [against New Zealand], he’s a wonderful player, he did in the first innings [against Australia at Edgbaston].
“I agree Foakes is a better ‘keeper – he’s an exceptional ‘keeper. If you get him in, you have to leave someone out. Bairstow has to play. You can’t play 12, so [Zak] Crawley is vulnerable.
“If you leave Crawley out, someone has to open. Bairstow doesn’t want to open, his success has been at No 7. It’s all very well and good saying who should play, I want to know who should be left out.”
Trying to solve the impossible conundrum of making 12 go into 11 is not unique to Stokes and McCullum. Since the international career of the great Alan Knott – a rare, genuine English wicketkeeper-batter who played 91 Tests – was ended in 1981 by his dalliance with a rebel tour to South Africa, there have been 20 players who have stood behind the stumps for varying lengths of time.
Of those, only Knott’s initial successor Bob Taylor – very much a wicketkeeper first and foremost – played over 50 Tests until fellow specialist Russell came along. However, the Gloucestershire cult hero was eventually jettisoned in favour of handing the gloves to top-order batter Stewart, who featured in 82 of his 133 Tests behind the stumps.
Following Stewart’s retirement 20 years ago, only Matt Prior established himself as a long-term successor in going on to play 79 Tests after the aforementioned Read and Jones were both discarded for the Sussex man.
Bairstow is now on 51 Tests as wicketkeeper, though, after taking the gloves for the opening Test of this year’s Ashes. Indeed, the majority of his 91 Test caps so far have come with him playing behind the stumps and former Australia international Mel Jones is in no doubt as to why that is.
Ben Foakes has found himself out of England’s Test team
“Foakes drops catches and misses stumpings – he’s a brilliant ‘keeper – yet Bairstow comes in and coming into this Test match his catch percentage is 91 percent, which is top-drawer,” Jones told Sky Sports. “No-one mentioned that prior to coming in because it’s always about how classy Foakes looks as an old-style wicketkeeper.”
Former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara believes Bairstow is capable of establishing himself as a Test wicketkeeper, too, providing he is preparing for the role in the right way.
“I think the physical part, he’ll get to the right level the more he keeps,” Sangakkara told Sky Sports. “Bairstow, irrespective of comparisons between [Jos] Buttler or Foakes, for him it’s training.
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Sangakkara analyses Jonny Bairstow’s mistakes in the first Ashes Test and explains the technical elements of the wicketkeeper role
“When you are getting ready for a Test match, keep on good surfaces. Make sure your feet are moving so when your feet move, your head gets behind the ball.
“When your head is behind the ball, the gloves will follow. Sometimes we are fed the fact it’s always about the hands. It rarely is – that’s the last thing which comes into play.”
The men’s Ashes resumes at Lord’s on Wednesday with the second of five Tests. Build-up begins on Sky Sports Cricket at 10am ahead of the first ball at 11am. Also stream on NOW TV.
