'Not rocket science, some cricketing sense' - Fans flabbergasted as England drop Ben Foakes for Ireland Test
Ben Foakes has been dropped to make way for Jonny Bairstow in the squad.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the squad for the one-off Test against Ireland on Tuesday, May 16, scheduled to be played from June 1 at Lord’s. Speedster Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the entire English summer due to his recurring elbow injury while wicketkeeper Ben Foakes was surprisingly dropped to make way for star batter Jonny Bairstow.
Foakes has featured in nine of the 12 Tests England has played ever since Brendon McCullum became the head coach of the Test team in 2022 and missed two matches due to illness. The wicketkeeper-batter has an average of 38.90 and during the aforementioned period and has also affected 36 dismissals donning the gloves.
The 30-year-old also scored a magnificent 113* against South Africa at Old Trafford during the second Test of the series. However, despite his great show with both bat and the gloves, Foakes was dropped to make way for Bairstow, who is making his return to international cricket after almost nine months after he suffered a freak injury in September 2022.
Bairstow has not kept wickets for England since 2021 and played as a specialist batter throughout the English summer in 2022. The 33-year-old was seen in imperious form in 2022, where he plundered 1061 runs at an average of 66.31 and a strike rate of 76. He was the chief architect of England’s famous ‘Bazball’ play, the brand of cricket they’ve been playing ever since McCullum took charge.
The star batter has played two County Championship matches for Yorkshire making his return to the pitch last month.
It was a seriously tough decision to leave Ben Foakes out: Rob Key
On the other hand, Foakes has had a great County season scoring 264 runs at an average of 52.80 for Surrey, including an unbeaten century against Lancashire.
“It was a seriously tough decision to leave Ben Foakes out of the squad. He has been excellent for England in the last year, but Jonny Bairstow is one of the best players in the world whose performances last summer epitomised what we are about, ” ECB managing director for men’s cricket Rob Key was quoted as saying by FoxSports.
England Test squad for Ireland Test
Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Meanwhile, Twitter was abuzz with reactions on Foakes’ exclusion.
Here are some of the Tweets:
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