Former England batter Mark Butcher has suggested that England captain Ben Stokes should move up the order to No.3 if he is unable to play a prominent role with the ball in the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford.
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No.3 has quickly become a tricky position to fill for England. Ollie Pope had batted first drop in every Test of the Stokes-McCullum era before a shoulder injury ruled him out of the final three Tests of the 2023 Ashes.
Initially, Harry Brook was promoted from five to fill the gap at three in the first innings at Headingley but Moeen Ali, after suggesting the idea to McCullum, was the man to do the job in the second innings. Brook stated after the game that while he’s happy to do the job, it’s not his preferred role. Brook was England’s leading run-scorer with 75 in their successful fourth innings chase.
Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Butcher said that he would like to see Ben Stokes bat at three as long as he is unable to bowl, as was the case at Headingley.
“The most obvious person to bat at three considering he is no longer an all-rounder is Ben Stokes. Unless he decides to do it, then they’ll fudge it one way or another between now and the end of the series.”
“I think the best one [person to bat three] would be Ben. In terms of his experience, in terms of his role now in the team in that he’s not an all-rounder anymore. That’s why we have to pick Jonny Bairstow as a keeper and play an extra bowler and all the rest of it, it’s is to make up for the fact that Ben is no longer, in this series anyway until he gets his knee fixed, considered an all-rounder so that would be the most obvious one for me.
“I’m not going to turn around and say I want Joe Root at number three because I’ve always said, ‘Leave him at four.’ Always. When this argument has been raised, I’ve always said, ‘Leave him where he plays best.’ You know moving him around does not help anyone because you just have to replace him at number four with somebody who’s not as good as him at number four, so what’s the point? Just leave him where he is. He’s fine.”
Root has batted three in 33 Tests with an average of less than 40, well down on his overall career average of 50.16. Stokes, meanwhile, has long been mooted as a possible number three but has only done the job once for England, doing so in the first innings of the 2018 Pallekele Test.
Butcher, who has batted three more times than anyone else for England, is not against Brook continuing to bat there. “Eventually, he’ll be absolutely fine at number three,” said Butcher. “The issue for him at the moment is that he’s just not used to leaving any balls and batting up the order you have to as much as Ben Duckett has bucked that trend. You have to leave the ball alone every once in a while, particularly at a place like Headingley where nicks are the main way of getting out, particularly in the first two innings of the game. But that’s something that he’ll learn, he’s just not quite there yet.”
