ENGLAND’S BIG ASHES CONUNDRUM
Behind the stumps, in the middle order or left out altogether, Jonny Bairstow’s fate is…
They have put the decision off, confident it would resolve itself before they had to declare their hand. But, with the time approaching to take on Australia, england must make up their minds about their biggest Ashes conundrum — what to do with Jonny Bairstow.
When any side has an embarrassment of talent to choose from, it is always called a nice problem to have.
But squeezing eight into their top seven, as england must do before the warm-up Test against Ireland on June 1, is still a Bairstow-sized issue.
yesterday, england sources remained relaxed and insisted no decision has yet been made on how to get the first face of Bazball, with four centuries in extraordinary wins last summer, back into the side. But the clock is ticking.
The good news is that Bairstow is now fully fit after that freak injury when he slipped on a golf tee at the end of last summer and suffered a badly broken left leg and dislocated ankle, just when he was at the peak of his powers.
Significantly, he has been moving well while keeping wicket for yorkshire, fielding behind the stumps for 153 overs in his comeback against Glamorgan and pulling off an outstanding diving catch to dismiss Kiran Carlson.
But on the same day against essex at Chelmsford, came a near identical catch by Ben Foakes — down the legside to send back Sir Alastair Cook — that proved the current england wicketkeeper will not give up his hard-earned place without a fight.
It still seems, with harry Brook now unmovable in Bairstow’s old spot of No5, that Foakes is the most likely player to make way when Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum, Rob Key and new selector Luke Wright make their minds up.
Bairstow kept for another 64.5 overs at Durham yesterday and ended the day unbeaten on 16.
he played down the importance of keeping wicket on his return at headingley, pointing out he always takes the gloves when he plays for yorkshire.
however, it is believed he would much prefer the all-round role to the only other feasible option of opening.
And if england do bring him back at seven at the expense of Foakes, it would mean making only one change to a line-up that has transformed england’s Test fortunes.
But what more could Foakes do to nail down an england place that has proved elusive ever since he made a century on debut against Sri Lanka, and kept so immaculately that Alec Stewart rightly described him as the best in the world?
Foakes’s excellent keeping is a given, but it should be remembered it is his batting that has played such a big part in the Stokes-McCullum revolution, helping win two games last summer and playing a big part in the first Test victory over New Zealand this winter.
If only he had carried england over the line in that thriller in Wellington, this argument may already have been settled.
But Foakes has done enough to justify the faith Stokes, in particular, has placed in him and should be a certainty for the first Ashes Test at edgbaston, which starts on June 16.
Which brings us to Zak Crawley, the cricketer who has polarised opinion like no other over the last year and is the only other candidate to step down in favour of Bairstow, even if it means rejigging england’s highly successful top six.
Crawley has started this season for Kent in a manner that has proved what everybody knows about him.
he was batting at a higher level to anyone around him while making 170 against essex, but has also made four single-figure scores, most recently falling to hampshire’s Keith Barker for seven on Thursday. McCullum has said he doesn’t expect consistency from Crawley because he is capable of matchwinning innings and england’s faith in him looked as strong as ever at the end of their New Zealand tour, with the coach virtually guaranteeing he would play in the Ashes. But McCullum also said earlier last winter in Pakistan that Bairstow would walk back into the side when fit, which then brings us to the elephant in the room.
McCullum did leave himself a bit of a get-out after Wellington when he said he would not ‘crowbar’ anybody into the side. Was that a get-out so he could leave Bairstow on the sidelines while telling him to get more form and fitness under his belt in the County Championship?
There is another solution and it is the one I favour.
england should bite the bullet and leave out Crawley — Foakes’s batting figures alone are better than his in almost every way — and the captain himself should open with Bairstow returning at six.
Stokes has not been fulfilling his potential in his desire to set a positive example, and says his career now is more about getting the best out of others.
he could set the tone and get more out of himself again by walking out to open at Lord’s against Ireland, then at edgbaston against the Australians with Ben Duckett alongside him.