Given the so-called ‘keeping culture war’ has been raging under various guises throughout so much of the recent history of English cricket,
perhaps it was always optimistic to expect this summer to produce a firm verdict either way.
While the Ashes series itself has met an underwhelming conclusion, the great batter-who-keeps versus keeper-who-bats debate remains, in the context of England’s gamble on the former, without a definitive result.
On the one hand, Jonny Bairstow’s missed chances in the first two Tests have proven costly, contributing directly to the 2-0 series deficit that left England too little margin for error.
But the pay-off was always touted to come in runs, and had the weather been slightly more forgiving in Manchester, we may now be looking at Bairstow’s 99 off just 82 balls as the innings that gave England scope to level the series while batting only once. It wasn’t, so we aren’t, but it remains unfortunate for Bairstow that after copping so much flack, his finest performance of the series so far has ultimately made no impression on its scoreline.
Certainly, it makes assessing England’s decision to go with the 33-year-old behind the stumps ahead of Surrey’s Ben Foakes a little trickier.
Throughout much of his career, including the triumphant 2005 Ashes series, Geraint Jones was in a similar position to Bairstow, under scrutiny while specialist gloveman Chris Read lurked in the shadows, knowing every error would be pounced on by punters and press alike.
“In a match, I could deal with it because I knew I had the support of my team and I had another ball coming, you had no choice,” Jones tells Standard Sport. “But it was away from it in the evenings, or in between Test matches, that it was hard to hear that constant noise. It’s tough because you feel like you’re constantly having to show why you’ve been picked.”
Judging by his punchy media round during the Fourth Test, that noise got to Bairstow, who declared criticism of his slow start to the series “out of order”. The keeper’s grievance was that he was not given enough credit or leniency for returning to international sport just 10 months after the freak golf course accident that threatened his career.
“I did have a chat with him this morning about it and he showed me his scars,” Jones says, speaking at a media appearance organised by LV= Insurance. “It’s a pretty horrific injury he had.”
The counter-argument is that however remarkable Bairstow’s return, once picked to play, his fitness ought to have been a given and all analysis had right to focus on returns, which, with the gloves, were not good enough. Jones, though, believes Bairstow has been made too much of a scapegoat.
“We could probably look back to a few things that happened in those first two Tests, a few of the batting dismissals,” he argues, the Keepers’ Union in session. “Not just Jonny dropped catches. I think if you look back, it’s well into the teens. Well, Jonny’s not dropped 15 catches himself, has he?”
Bairstow’s stunning grab to remove Mitchell Marsh at Old Trafford felt a turning point and given his struggles earlier in the series seemed ones of fitness and rust above technical flaw, it is no surprise that he appears to be sharpening up. The contrast with Alex Carey is notable, too, the Australian keeper’s flawless start to the tour having faltered in Manchester and contributions with the bat beyond Birmingham thin.
Jones both believes and hopes that Bairstow is just rediscovering his groove, well enough to keep the gloves for the winter’s five-Test tour to India, when turning tracks and testing conditions are unlikely to quiet the debate or calls for specialist skill.
There again, as Jones knows well, not much does.
