In English cricket, it is the debate that will not die: to pick your best wicketkeeper or a player who would contribute more runs?
Before England’s 1928-29 Ashes tour, the choice was between Les Ames and George Duckworth: Ames was a better batsman, Duckworth a better keeper. The names change – whether it was Jim Parks or John Murray, Alec Stewart or Jack Russell – but English cricket has spent much of the next 95 years debating the keeper v batsman question.
When, from the fifth ball of Australia’s run chase, Jonny Bairstow did not dive to a ball that edged between the keeper and first slip, it reawakened this simmering debate. Not, of course, that it was ever really dormant.
Picking Bairstow over Ben Foakes was among the most fiercely debated selection decisions that England have made in recent years. Had this been a public vote, Foakes would have been retained as keeper, with a spot elsewhere found for Bairstow, who, after six Test centuries in 2022, had to return. Yet to England, the crux of the matter was simple: a belief that Bairstow, with his counter-attacking from number seven and fine track record as a keeper, was more likely to help defeat the number one Test side in the world.
The first two innings of the Test match crystallised the terms of the debate. First, Bairstow made a sparkling 78 on the opening day – scoring at a-run-a-ball, and reshaping the feel of the contest after England had slipped to 176-5. While he is not as accomplished a batsman as Bairstow, Foakes might have made the same runs – but he would surely not have made them in the same way. Bairstow was Bazball’s beating heart last summer, his audacious batting the catalyst for England’s transformation.
When Bairstow took a terrific one-handed catch to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne on the second morning, the chatter about Foakes had receded like a middle-aged hairline. But, as Bairstow first missed a stumping off Cameron Green, and then spilled two chances off Alex Carey, so the laments for Foakes could be heard again.
In a neat encapsulation of the debate, Bairstow’s first innings misses – Green on nought, and then Carey on 26 and 52 – added up to 78 runs: exactly the same as his batting contribution. So far in Australia’s run chase, Khawaja has added 29 since his reprieve, more than Bairstow’s second innings 20.
Ostensibly, this could be used to suggest that Bairstow has not justified his recall. But that would be very simplistic. Had Bairstow fallen cheaply in the first innings, England would have been scrambling to reach 250, putting the match on a very different trajectory.
Bairstow is also an altogether better keeper than his tally of misses this Test suggests. Indeed, in their Test careers Bairstow has taken 88 per cent of catching chances, according to CricViz, while Foakes is recorded as taking only 82 per cent. In England, Bairstow has taken 90 per cent and Foakes 87 per cent.
These numbers cannot capture everything – the impact of Foakes being able to stand up to the stumps, say, which Brendon McCullum credited as helping Stuart Broad take a wicket in New Zealand in February; that Foakes concedes few byes per innings; or whether Foakes is more likely to dive for a ball than leave it alone as Bairstow did off Khawaja. But they do suggest that, while Foakes is the better keeper, the differences between the two are overstated. When keeping wicket in England, Bairstow has generally been highly-reliable – and he has averaged 38 with the bat to boot. It amounts to a compelling package.
Yet none of this obscured that Bairstow had picked an unfortunate Test to miss – or leave alone – four chances. Nor will England care much for some mitigating circumstances. Two of the four chances were against spin; with his rapid pace for an off spinner and round-arm action, Root presents an unusual challenge for keepers. While Bairstow kept well against Ireland, that was his first Test behind the stumps for two years; an Ashes Test on this Edgbaston presents a challenge of an altogether different order. When David Warner and Steve Smith presented chances on the fourth evening, Bairstow grabbed them with calm efficiency, showing the resilience that has defined his career.
It is tempting to suggest that an awkward Test behind the stumps will be the cue for Bairstow to be redeployed as a specialist batsman, with Foakes recalled. Yet this notion misunderstands England’s entire thinking: a focus on the best that could happen rather than a fear of the worst, a willingness to accept occasional bad moments in return for new possibilities. And so, while discussions about the identity of their Ashes keeper might linger, England’s mind is all made up.
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