“England will have to make a decision on Jonny Bairstow” - Nasser Hussain weighs in on the wicketkeeper conundrum for hosts

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has admitted that the hosts will have to make a decision on keeper-batter Jonny Bairstow heading into the fourth Ashes 2023 Test.

Bairstow has been struggling with the bat and gloves. However, Hussain opined that bringing in Ben Foakes as keeper and playing Bairstow as a pure batter could affect the team combination since skipper Ben Stokes has been unable to bowl much due to his injury.

Bairstow has dropped quite a few catches behind the stumps and has been sloppy overall. The 33-year-old contributed 78 in the first innings of the opening Test at Edgbaston, but the runs have dried up for him since then.

The keeper-batter has been in the news more for the controversy over his stumping at Lord’s than his batting. In his column for The Daily Mail, Hussain opened up on the keeper conundrum for England.

“England will have to make a decision on Jonny Bairstow and their wicketkeeper-batsman situation before the. It will be tricky because Bairstow has been pivotal to this side for the last 14 months, yet he now looks to be lacking confidence with the gloves and that has transferred into his batting," he opined.

"He seems a bit tense and when a batsman gets like that the bottom hand can take over. Two balls before dragging on, he escaped a similar fate, and Ben Foakes is looming in the background,” Hussain continued.

Elaborating on how Foakes’ inclusion can weaken the England bowling attack, the former captain explained:

“The problem of thinking about a change behind the stumps is that England now need five bowlers as Stokes is playing as a specialist batter, and you need not only a spinner but genuine pacemen at Old Trafford. Generally, the combination of Moeen [Ali] and [Mark] Wood used here is what you would want in Manchester because of the bounce on offer.”

Foakes, 30, has played 20 Tests for England, scoring 934 runs at an average of 32.20, with two hundreds and four fifties.

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“The 2-1 scoreline is a pretty accurate reflection of how the series has gone” - Hussain

Reflecting on how Ashes 2023 has panned out so far, Hussain stated that the 2-1 scoreline is an apt reflection of what has transpired till now. The 55-year-old feels that Australia will be ruing missed opportunities in the third Test at Headingley, just like England in the opening two encounters.

Hussain wrote:

“England have relinquished some massive opportunities and today Australia will be feeling the boot is on the other foot. Because when Wood joined Stokes at the crease on day two, the Australians were dominant, holding a 121-run advantage, and they missed their chance to seize the moment.

The former England captain added:

"They will leave Leeds asking: how did we lose? Just as England have done in the previous two matches. Equally, 3-0 would not have been a fair representation of events.”

The fourth Ashes 2023 Test will be played at Old Trafford in Manchester from July 19 to 23.