England have a decision to make about their position as a test goalkeeper and who can play the role in the long run; the injured Jos Buttler has struggled in the past year; Jonny Bairstow has found his way as a specialist hitter; Ben Foakes is the best glover; Sam Billings looks ready to stay in Hobart
Who is England’s long-term test goalkeeper?
With Jos Buttler ruled out of the fifth Ashes Test, England are faced with a familiar question: who should keep the wicket?
Hobart might be the immediate concern, but given Buttler’s struggles over the past year and with a pending England ‘red ball restart’, the discussion over who should take the gloves long-term is lively.
Whoever gets the go-ahead for the series finale in Australia will have a chance to present their case, but with limited options, mainly due to injuries and Covid, there are no guarantees beyond that.
So who are the main contenders to fill the role behind the stumps of England after the Ashes?
The man in possession. Buttler’s Test career to date has been arguably one of the most frustrating for an England player in recent memory. A two-century comeback averaging 31.94 out of 57 Tests doesn’t even come close to accurately representing his immense talent.
While he has established himself as one of the leading white ball players on the planet, in red ball cricket things just haven’t worked out. There have been periods where it seemed like that had changed, that I’d finally figured it out, as he averaged 44.70 in 2018 after being called up alongside and in the summer of 2020 he averaged 52.
Since leaving after the first test match on the India tour last winter, as part of England’s rest and rotation policy, his form has plummeted with a higher score of just 39 in 13 innings.
Behind the stumps, Buttler has also had a difficult time in Australia, with several costly falls. However, prior to this series, he was outperforming most goalkeepers in test cricket in terms of his catch percentage.
In the meantime, their calm and no-nonsense presence in the review process may seem minor, they aren’t a big part of the game, and they can’t be completely overlooked. Neither can his tactical acumen to help Joe Root or his importance as a leader in the locker room.
Ultimately, though, while he’s not scoring runs, his position is vulnerable and with a seemingly nasty fracture to his finger, he could find that his spot in the XI belongs to someone else by the time he’s back in shape.
After two or three difficult years in the longer format, Bairstow returned to form in impressive style at the Sydney Cricket Ground. His 100th in the first inning was as good as any that has scored for England, according to Root, while he fought hard for 41 in the second to help his team draw the tie. His stock in red ball cricket is as high as it has been for some time.
The question now is whether that should lead to his reinstatement as a hitter. Bairstow has previously made no secret of wanting to get the gloves back as he was relieved of those duties after the 2019 Ashes and it is also well known that his batting record is significantly better when playing goalkeeper – he’s averaging 37.37 with five hundred at 87. innings with the gloves, compared to 29.03, two hundred in 55 innings without them.
(Coincidentally, Buttler is the complete opposite: 29.60 as a goalie, 35.68 as a specialist hitter. Something to keep in mind).
Bairstow’s standout year in test cricket came in 2016 when he racked up 1,470 runs in 29 innings, scoring three hundred with a 58.80 average, all while playing goalie-batter. That’s by far his best year, averaging 34.31 in 2017, his next best performance.
Frustratingly for everyone involved, 2016 has truly been an outlier year in terms of its production. In the five years since then, Bairstow’s records with and without gloves are very similar: 29.11-28.22 in favor of not playing goalkeeper. Given that he only held onto four Tests prior to 2016, it’s not a very large sample size, but it’s the same story there: 28.96 to 26.50, better numbers as a front-line hitter.
As for his glove work, Bairstow has rarely let England down. He is a good goalkeeper and there is no reason to doubt that he can be one again. Consistent runs are still the key factor and with the numbers it is possible to make arguments in any way as to whether or not that means restoring him as a wicketkeeper is the right thing to do.
A thumb injury means those in charge should have a little more time to reflect on how they want to attack that.
If it were as simple as selecting the player who is best with gloves, you know, the best real goalkeeper, then there would be no discussion or debate. Ben Foakes would be England’s goalkeeper.
However, this is cricket, and English cricket, and it is never that simple. Foakes is, without a doubt, the best glover in the country and has shown it in keynote shows in Sri Lanka and India. His Surrey cricket manager Alec Stewart has repeatedly argued that Foakes is actually the best goalkeeper in the world.
However, the expectation that a wicketkeeper should also contribute the bat is nothing new, in fact, Stewart himself regularly held the wicket for England in the ’90s when they opted to go with another front-line hitter over the glovemaster. Jack Russell, and while Foakes certainly isn’t far behind with the bat, he appears to have yet to convince the selectors that he can deliver as much as Buttler or Bairstow.
Foakes may mark a century in his test debut in Sri Lanka, as well as another half century in the series, while an undefeated 42 when England was eliminated by 134 in Chennai last year showed his fighting and technique. Meanwhile, his 31.53 test average is just a fraction of Buttler’s and not far behind Bairstow’s.
Perhaps the concerns stem from a disappointing comeback in the most seam-friendly pitches in the Caribbean in 2019, where he put together just 55 runs over four innings averaging 13.75. In India, despite that blow in Chennai, he averaged just 15.60 over six innings, albeit on some very challenging pitches.
Foakes has yet to play a home test, but if you look at first-class averages, his 38.35 is second only to Bairstow among the top contenders for ground maintenance work. He is also the youngest, although he will be 29 when the first test in the West Indies begins in March, so he is past the bright young hope phase.