England took a big risk by selecting Jonny Bairstow as their wicketkeeper and it has backfired spectacularly.
He dropped two catches on day one of the third Ashes Test amid an embarrassing array of fumbles and bumbles.
Forget about the drama at Lord’s, waiting for the ball’s dead or bleating about the spirit of cricket, priority No.1 should be putting in hours of extra practice on your keeping skills.
Bairstow can get the job done in T20s and one-day international fixtures but at Test level, he’s a backstop, not a wicketkeeper.
As is the Bazball way, gambles are taken in every aspect of cricket.
Instead of playing it safe and retaining the superior gloveman in Ben Foakes, they brought Bairstow back as keeper for the Ashes after a brief return in county cricket and a warm-up behind the stumps in the Test against Ireland.
England’s Jonny Bairstow drops a catch from Australia’s Travis Head. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)
He has looked sluggish in his primary role after more than six months out with a broken leg from, of all things, an injury via a freak accident on the golf course. Bairstow averages 36.88 with the bat in Test cricket and his record doesn’t vary much either way if he’s keeper. Foakes is hardly a mug with the bat, hitting two hundreds in his 20 Tests at 32.2.
Bairstow blasted four tons in hitting 790 runs at 63.9 to usher in the start of the Bazball era last year in a career-best purple patch without the burden of keeping.
When Ollie Pope was ruled out for the rest of the series with his shoulder injury, England could have reinstated Bairstow to his preferred specialist batter role with Foakes recalled but due to concerns around Ben Stokes’ ability to bowl due to his knee injury, they picked five bowlers.
After two substandard Tests behind the stumps, England have actually made his task harder by promoting him two spots in the batting line-up to No.5 to give him less of a rest between keeping duties and wielding the willow.
Which meant he was back in the middle for the final few overs of day one as England finished 3-68 in response to Australia’s 263.
This time he was making sure he put his bat behind the crease and waited for the ball to officially be dead before wandering out of the safety zone.
Bairstow’s long list of costly keeping errors grew again at Leeds, at his home ground, when he grassed a tough inside-edge chance off Steve Smith and a straightforward offering from Travis Head.
Smith was on four at the time and only went on to make 22 so not too much damage there.
Head, however, was on nine when Bairstow failed to reel in a feather down leg side which didn’t even require a dive.
The South Australian left-hander went on to make 39 so individually, he didn’t rack up a big score, but he was gifted the opportunity to play the rare sheet-anchor role while Mitchell Marsh exploded at the other end for a run-a-ball 118 in their partnership of 155.
The Aussies could have been five down and then six even with a mere 98 runs on the board when Joe Root put down a sitter off Marsh early in his innings and the aggressive all-rounder cashed in for a century in his first Test in four years.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain, in his Daily Mail column, ripped into England for their lack of attention to important details like fielding.
Australia batter Mitchell Marsh celebrates his century. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
“Dropping catches is like a virus. A confidence thing. One goes down, and your hands stiffen up,” he wrote. “The best slip fielders I played with in Mark Waugh and Nick Knight looked like they were catching an egg, their hands were so soft.
“But the moment one or two go down it is almost like you don’t want the ball to come to you and if you’re a bit tense, the ball can bounce off them.
“If England win, it’s all brilliant and down to Bazball. Lose, and it is because Bazball doesn’t work. When actually it is the basics of the game where they have fallen short: not having bowlers fit at the right time, batters not being ruthless when they have the opposition down, taking wickets from no-balls and fielders missing catches.”
Marsh’s ton presents a doozy of a conundrum for the Australian selectors. They rested Cameron Green as he only had a few days rest between matches after his heavy bowling workload at Lord’s left him with a slight hamstring strain but it would be extremely harsh on Marsh to drop him now.
Root dropped Alex Carey in the final session when he was on four, which also did more psychological damage than impact on the scoreboard as he only made eight, before he managed to finally hang onto an offering from Head next ball.
The contrast between Carey and Bairstow has been huge – not just in their views on when the ball is considered dead before a stumping can be executed. The Aussie gloveman took another spectacular catch to get rid of Ben Duckett early in the England innings at Headingley.
It’s often said that the wicketkeeper sets the standards for a fielding team and Bairstow’s sloppiness has set the tone for England.
Former England batter Mark Butcher, mercifully subbed into the Sky Sports commentary box mid-series for Kevin Pietersen, emphasised that point, echoing Hussain’s thoughts by recalling how his contemporaries, Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor, always looked relaxed in the Australian cordon as they snaffled pretty much every Ashes chance that came their way.
Butcher said you can’t have tension when you are anywhere in the field and the English looked nervous, like they didn’t want the ball to come their way.
He added that “tension spreads when the keeper drops a couple of catches” and when Root shelled another catch off Head in the evening session, it was the 15th missed opportunity (14 drops and one botched stumping) of the series from England. It cost them 180 extra runs at Edgbaston, 130 at Lord’s and already 158 at Headingley.
That’s three chances per innings when you are trying to take down the world Test champions.
That’s not going to cut the mustard.
That’s village.
timbo59
Roar Rookie
No, I mentioned Greg Chappell and Dougie Walters because under normal circumstances they only bowled if the opposition was putting in a decent innings and the main bowlers needed a rest or Chappelli was looking for something different to break a partnership. Greg and Doug put in great efforts on that tour, as did Max Walker, who ostensibly went along on that tour as second banana to Lillee - possibly even Hammond. Jenner had a decent series as well. As for the messages, you can see them on a place called Cameo - it's amazing who you can pay to hand out birthday messages - and how much you can pay for it! The two Chappell brothers were pretty modest in pricing. I also paid for John Lovitz to do a message for my wife on her birthday - she's American and a huge fan of Saturday Night live. :)
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Me? Not jealous, no, not at all ——- Gimmet reference was funny as I’d mentioned him in another post about stupid selections or droppings or non-droppings (Davey) or non-selections. Truly Clarrie was a great bowler. You forgot to mention Jeff Hammond who turned in a bowling performance on that tour of note. I never knew anything about them doing messages. Chappelli is a Libran who are one of the more funnier signs
timbo59
Roar Rookie
I had a few telephone chats with Rowdy – back in the day when, amazingly, a lot of cricketers still openly kept their telephone numbers listed in the White Pages. I politely called him up one day over something, and not only he was nice enough to respond, but ended up chatting with me for nearly two hours about the game. We ended up having a few phone conversations together over the next year or two, and he was always a gentleman and an enthusiastic talker. He had just finished writing a book about Victor Trumper at the time – the reason for my call, as I revered Trumper and knew his life and career backwards (I’ve even been to his grave at Waverly cemetery to pay my respects) – and he was on the point of writing another book, this time about Clarrie Grimmett. He had some fascinating things to say about Grimmett, not least his view that Clarrie was just as important to the Aussie team at the time as Bradman and that his bowling figures bear comparison in terms of impact – which is why the eventual subtitle to the book was ‘The Bradman of Spin’. He also had some less than flattering things to say about Bradman in terms of the influence he had in having Grimmett dropped from the side, ostensibly because of his age. That aside, Bradman was another who was always fastidious and fulsome in responding to correspondence. As for Chappelli, I also had huge respect and admiration for his captaincy – to this day, I consider one of the most unheralded captaincy performances was the manner in which he managed to marshal his team to beat a still formidable West Indies side in the Caribbean after losing Lillee to back injuries and Massie to complete loss of form. The way he got Maxie Walker to take over front line duties, while also getting excellent performances with the ball from part timers like Greg Chappell and Dougie Walters, is a testament to his captaincy skills. He’s also got a good sense of humor – you can pay to get various celebrities to do video messages to friends or family as a gift, and I lined up Chappelli for an old mate’s birthday a couple of years ago. He was very dry, amusing, and self-deprecating. What great days they were, when former players were so readily available and happy to be remembered. I have filing cabinets full of letters and signed pictures from players around the world. A friend even got Harold Larwood to sign something for me, at his home in Kingsford, Sydney, even though he was blind by then. All of that was long ago though, back when I was still in my 20s and had a lot more cheek to make those kind of approaches. ????
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I used to get approvals off TJ to work on cars at a car yard in the early 80s. He was an excellent raconteur and his love of Chappelli and cricket were infectious. We had a few impromptu bowls where the traded cars sat. He was a very good bowler. Amazingly he and Rowdy only played one test in tandem. How the “Nudist” Kerry O’Keefe got tests ahead of Mallet and TJ I’ll never know. WA has always been my 2nd favourite state because he, Mallet and Redleg’s Stalwart, Johnny Wynne, came from there. And Ric Charlesworth whom I’ve also met in Smogney one time.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Yes standing back Marsh was brilliant. Keeping to Lillian Thomson was hard on his hands. -------- Mallett was many times more than gentle but his greatest strength was the time the ball spent in the air. He had air and drift going very well. He got to a 100 wickets in one more test than Lillee; he was no slouch. Had he been played today he would've been a a 100 test match player.
Pom in exile
Roar Rookie
Tasting Bundy Rum would cause mass abstinence.
timbo59
Roar Rookie
O'Keefe and Jenner were largely minor figures through Marsh's career. 'Rowdy' played a more significant role, at least in the first half. While Jenner's career was relatively modest, Australian cricket owes him a huge debt for his mentoring of a certain Shane Warne. As far as the English basing their attack on slow bowling, you couldn't be further from the truth. The England side that were triumphant on Australian soil in 1970-71 based their attack on intimidating pace bowling, and while Snow was the standout pace bowler alongside Knott in the early stages of his career, the Kent keeper also kept to the likes of Peter Lever, Chris Old, Bob Willis, Ian Botham, and so on. Fred Titmus, Ray Illingworth, and 'Deadly' Derek certainly did features though those years, though not as an all-out spin attack a la the subcontinent, but rather as a tag team who overlapped their careers and occasionally featured in pairings on suitable pitches. Hardly the 'main weapon' you're trying to suggest.
Warren Turner
Roar Rookie
Marnus has been opening for most of the last couple of years
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Yorkie bars
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Blue
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Rib Eye of Whale?
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
And yorkshire pudding
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
And Harris is ahead of Renshaw.
Curmudgeon1961
Roar Rookie
Left my shoes at home in a social match but still kept better than Jonny (who I like as a bat and bloke)
Johnno
Roar Rookie
Knott was exceptional up close, but slow bowling was England’s main weapon, apart from Snow. Marsh was more than adequate keeping to Mallett, Jenner & O’keefe but just not as good as Knott to the slowies.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Bairstow could lose some weight. A fat number 6 is fine. A fat keeper and number 5 is not
Steele
Roar Rookie
Green would be better up the order than languishing at seven. Can’t see them doing it, but Green in for Warner is probably better than Renshaw in for Warner. Although I’d like to see him get another chance.
Ace
Roar Rookie
Of course Lyon has gone home so I guess he won't get up for any more cricket in this series
WhoDis
Roar Rookie
Yeah so anyway I’ve passed it on to Bundy, and they can do with it what they may :stoked:
sven
Roar Rookie
to be fair to bairstow, to my knowledge he hasnt actually said anything re the stumping, u could understand his gobsmacked demenour at the time ... feels like st baz has thrown him under the bus a bit making him keep rather than just having as a batsman, esp when by all accounts they have an excellent keeper not getting a run