'Jonny Bairstow Is Not Fit...,' Geoffrey Boycott Wants England To Drop Bairstow In 4th Ashes Test
England wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow | Source: Twitter
England, after losing the first two Tests, bounced back stronger in the third Test at Headingley, defeating Australia by three wickets and keeping the series alive.
Meanwhile, former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott remains unimpressed with one of the England players and is asking for his exclusion from the Test for the fourth Test match.
Writing in his column for The Telegraph, Boycott conceded that Jonny Bairstow is not at his best currently and it would be wise to replace him with Ben Foakes, who was England’s go-to keeper batter while Bairstow was recovering from injury.
Jonny Bairstow's recent performances, particularly as a wicketkeeper, have been noticeably below par in the last couple of Tests. The keeper batter has dropped several crucial chances in the three Test matches played so far and just has 141 runs to his name with the bat.
Here’s what Geoffrey Boycott wrote in his column:
“All this stuff about picking your best keeper is rubbish but at the moment Jonny is not safe with his keeping and is rusty. That is the problem. I forecast that.”
Pulling no punches, Boycott stated that if he were part of the England management, he would not have selected Jonny Bairstow until the third Test. Instead, he would have advised Bairstow to play for Yorkshire in order to gain some valuable competitive cricket experience.
"I wouldn’t have picked him until the third Test and made him play for Yorkshire to get some competitive cricket under his belt. You can’t sustain a serious injury like that and think you can come back straightaway against a team as good as Australia.”
Furthermore, Boycott stated that there is no stipulation preventing changes to a winning combination:
"Some people may say never change a winning team. I disagree. My experience of playing at the highest level for so long and my common sense tells me that Jonny Bairstow is not fit.”
In the third Test, England made three changes to their playing XI, reintroducing Moeen Ali while also welcoming Mark Wood and Chris Woakes for their first appearance in this series. The strategic moves paid off as England secured a remarkable three-wickets victory against Australia.
Given Jonny Bairstow's lackluster displays with both the bat and behind the stumps in the series thus far, it remains interesting to see whether England will substitute him with Ben Foakes for the fourth Test, slated to take place at Old Trafford starting from July 19th.
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