Before a ball has been bowled England have already lost the opening test of the summer. By dropping Ben Foakes, the best wicketkeeper in the land, and reinstating Jonny Bairstow as gloveman of choice, the selectors have covered themselves in shame. The continued presence of Zac Crawley, who masquerades as an opening batsman, compounds the error. This is less a selection than an abdication, and those responsible should not be allowed to forget it.
We have been here before, of course. Keith Andrew, Bob Taylor, Jack Russell and Chris Read all supped from the bitter cup of disappointment, though Taylor's career coincided with that of Alan Knott, the greatest gloveman of all. The Foakes Case, as it will surely be known, is different. He is a capable batsman, as he has proved abundantly in the last year of transformation, and an excellent team man.
The squalid experiment with Jos Buttler was bad enough. It was evident to most people with eyes to see that Buttler, a gifted biffer in one-day cricket, was always going to struggle in Test cricket, yet he was granted three years to prove his unsuitability. Now, despite presenting his credentials in the most convincing way, Foakes must make way once more for an inferior craftsman.
Bairstow is a decent performer behind the stumps and when his blood is up, as it was last summer, he is a superb attacking batsman. There should be a place for him in the Test XI, but not at the expense of a man superior in his field to all others. Disgraceful barely covers it.
As for Crawley, what is there to say? The statistics suggest he is barely good enough to open the batting for Kent, never mind England. Nobody in the history of cricket with a career average of 29/30 has ever become a Test batsman, and he is not about to defy history. On flat pitches, when the moon is high, he will fill his boots. But he has played 33 Tests, and we are entitled to make a judgment. Not good enough, is that judgment. Talented, but wayward. He's had a fair go, and should stand down.
England have played excellent cricket in the past year. They may even, as some observers have suggested, redefined the nature of Test cricket. Yet they have dropped a man who played a full part in that process, and retained another who has exhausted the patience of all fair-minded folk except those who pick the team.
Michael Henderson
As an Australian, I urge the English squad to keep Crawley at opener.
“We have been here before, of course. Keith Andrew, Bob Taylor, Jack Russell and Chris Read…” You could also mention James Foster, who played only seven Tests despite being the finest gloveman in the land for most of the first decade of this century. He was no dunce with the bat, either, but the selectors preferred the likes of Tim Ambrose, Geraint Jones and Craig Kieswetter purely because they were thought to have a slight batting edge – even if none of them could match Fozzy behind the stumps.
It was Foster’s long tenure of the gloves at Essex that eventually drove his talented but frustrated understudy to Surrey, a county where he’d get more chances to play. Chap called Foakes, if memory serves. This piece from 2018 marking Foster’s retirement now seems sadly prescient:
“He has seen off various challengers at Essex over the years. Ben Foakes went to Surrey, and Adam Wheater has been kept at bay of late.
“Foakes will be wary when he looks at Foster’s career, actually. The Surrey man is a fine gloveman, with Alec Stewart saying he is the best England have. But with Jonny Bairstow, Jos Butler and Ollie Pope all in the England squad, he may miss out like Foster has. Which would be a shame.”
More than a shame: as you say, a disgrace.
https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/domestic/farewell_fozzy_essex_hero,_england_enigma_and_perhaps_the_greatest_keeper_of_his_generation.html