England will struggle to pick Ben Foakes in their XI for the India Tests, despite his recall to the squad for the series, according to Mark Butcher.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum face several questions over the make-up of their team for the five-match series, with Ollie Pope returning from injury, Stuart Broad retired, and three spinners with one cap between them picked in the squad.
Foakes was left out for the Ashes as Jonny Bairstow reclaiming the gloves. He had missed the winter with injury, during which time Harry Brook had made himself undroppable, and Foakes was the player to make away. While Bairstow excelled with the bat during the Ashes, bookending the series with scores of 78 and hitting an unbeaten 99 at Old Trafford, several dropped chances cost England in the first two Tests in particular.
England now have a full complement of batters to pick from in India, as well as the added factor of turning tracks increasing the value of picking the best gloveman. Foakes is considered to be the best wicketkeeper England have available, and seven of his 20 Tests have come in Asia.
However, speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Butcher explained how England’s lack of all-rounders meant it was hard to see how Foakes could make it into the XI.
“I don’t see how they can play him, as much as I think he should be in the side,” Butcher said. “I do not see how they can get him in and play a balanced attack with five bowlers that includes two spin bowlers, three seamers and have enough batting. I just can’t see how they do it, I’m afraid. Ollie Pope might not play anyway. England’s No.3 up until the shoulder injury might not get into the side anyhow. Stokes will bat at five or six. I can’t see England wanting to go in with five specialist batters, Foakes at six, and then five bowlers after that because they haven’t got the all-rounders out there, so honestly I don’t see how they get him in.
“Without seeing the surfaces it’s difficult to say [if England will feel the need to pick five bowlers] but a balanced attack in turning conditions is that, isn’t it? Unless you feel your slow bowlers are good enough to only play two seamers and two spinners and that be it. But I don’t feel our spinners are good enough to do that, and England’s strength wherever they travel has always been their seam bowling, so you’d want at least three seamers in that team. The lack of a bowling all-rounder, an opening or a first-change bowler who can also bat in the top seven, there isn’t one in the squad, so where the hell do you get Ben Foakes into that team? It’s not possible. Maybe the contrary nature of the game and of Bazball means they will find a way to do it just to make me look bad, but I cannot see how it’s done.”
Expanding on why he felt England would need to pick five bowlers, Butcher pointed to the fact that England’s premier quicks, James Anderson and Mark Wood, are aging and injury prone respectively, while three of the four spinners in the squad are inexperienced.
“The options are so limited. The other issue there becomes your senior fast bowlers, for example. You wouldn’t want Wood and Anderson to be two out of two if you’re going to play a four-man attack. And then you look at the spin bowlers, and you’ve got Shoaib Bashir, who’s played six first-class matches, you’ve got Rehan Ahmed, as talented as he is, and you’ve got Tom Hartley who’s also never played a Test match. Your other two aren’t screaming, ‘this is going to be the way forward’. So you’d have to have another safety valve of one type or the other, whether that be a seamer or a spinner, and there is where Ben Foakes is carrying drinks for the trip.”
The five-match series begins in Hyderabad on January 25.
