The Ben Foakes question, and how England can solve it
24.02.26, 11:30 Updated 24.02.26, 14:14 5 Minute Read
Mark Church
One of the great unsolved mysteries of English cricket is why the best wicketkeeper in the country is dropped when the Test side are not scoring enough runs or taking enough wickets.
In the 1990s, when England found themselves struggling, Jack Russell was always left out, Alec Stewart was given the gloves, and that meant England could play the extra batter or bowler.
Stewart was by the latter half of his career a brilliant keeper, but Russell could do things behind the stumps that made you sit back and purr. His legside stumping of Dean Jones, standing up to Gladstone Small on the 1990-91 Ashes tour is ridiculous (look it up on You Tube), but Jack still then found himself left out of the next Test in Adelaide. Stewart was given the gloves and that enabled Phil DeFreitas to play as a bowling all-rounder.
And we are still trying to solve that conundrum. Jamie Smith did not have the Ashes tour he would have wanted but can you think of any other side in the world that would not have an in-form Smith and Ben Foakes in the same starting XI?
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