BAIRSTOW FACES FIGHT TO REGAIN GLOVES

ENGLAND may use Jonny Bairstow’s fractured finger as an opportunity to persuade him he should concentrate on being a specialist batsman. Bairstow will reluctantly hand back the gloves to Jos Buttler for next week’s fourth Test at the Ageas Bowl even if he is cleared to play as a batsman. And now England, beset by fragility at the top of the order, will consider whether it is time to make the move permanent and promote one of their best batsmen, perhaps to No 4, without worrying about his workload. Bairstow would resist because he has worked exceptionally hard at his keeping to become probably a slightly better gloveman than Buttler, certainly when standing up to the stumps. And England will be wary of disturbing the equilibrium of a man who believes that his batting and keeping feed off each other and that he has the fitness and concentration to do both. ‘It’s like any injury. If someone else comes in and does well then you have a decision to make,’ said England coach Trevor Bayliss. ‘It will be a decision taken from a team point of view. Jonny is a world-class batsman but one of problem might be convincing him of that. He might fear taking the gloves would affect his batting, but we don’t.’ Statistics suggest it is best for Bairstow to pass the gloves to England’s white-ball keeper, who is playing as a specialist batsman at seven. All five of Bairstow’s Test centuries have come in the first innings before he has kept. It certainly seemed a significant moment at Trent Bridge when Bairstow (left) was struck by a Jimmy Anderson delivery and was clearly in some pain while Buttler rushed off for his keeping gear. Buttler then kept for 60 overs before making a maiden Test century of rare class in England’s second innings having been promoted to six because of Bairstow’s injury. But Bayliss knows any move would be tricky to make. ‘The hard thing would be trying to convince Jonny,’ he admitted. ‘If that’s the way we went it would certainly be a deep conversation with someone like that. But Jonny is a reasonable bloke and he wants to play Test cricket. We know he wants to keep but there would be a lot of explaining and chatting.’ Bairstow has become a Test-class keeper mainly through his extensive work with Bruce French. ‘He has improved over the last couple of years from where he was, say, in South Africa,’ said Bayliss. ‘He’s worked hard but Jos would have to work hard if he kept in Tests again. There are other options out there as well.’ That was a reference to Surrey’s Ben Foakes, who impressed on tour as a gloveman and with a bat as Bairstow’s back-up last winter.