Ashes 2023: 'A shadow of his best', Geoffrey Boycott wants England to drop Jonny Bairstow

London, July 11 (IANS) Former captain Geoffrey Boycott wants England management to take a strong decision and drop Jonny Bairstow from the playing XI for the fourth Ashes Test to be played at Old Trafford, starting from July 19, saying that the wicket-keeper batter has been "a shadow of his best"

Bairstow, who made his comeback after a long injury layoff, has dropped six catches in the Ashes 2023 so far, including Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne at Headingley. With the bat, aside from his first innings score in the Edgbaston Test of 78, Bairstow has registered scores of 20, 16, 10, 12 and five. 

"England took a calculated gamble and it hasn’t worked. In three Tests he has dropped catches, missed a stumping and can’t score any runs. It is very sad and outwardly he may show he is upbeat and full of exuberance, but when you fail on the big stage in the full glare of publicity there is nowhere to hide and deep down it affects your confidence. Someone needs to be brave for him and take him out of the limelight," Boycott wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

"Some people 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…He isn’t moving 100 percent right and is short of competitive batting and wicket-keeping. He has been selected on last summer’s marvellous match-winning batting, but at this moment in time is a shadow of his best," he added. 

Bairstow was in sensational form and averaged 75.66 in Test cricket summer last year, with four centuries. However, for the majority of that summer, Bairstow was not keeping wicket with Foakes in the side. 

With Bairstow not being in top form with either bat or gloves, Boycott wants Ben Foakes to replace him in the England Playing XI. 

"When Jonny is at his best he is a better plus for England than Ben Foakes. But at the moment he is dropping things and not moving properly. So sorry, take him out of the pressure cooker. He can come back later but he has got to get himself right. When he is picked ahead of Foakes, his keeping has to be safe and he has to score runs. He is not doing either. I don’t take any pleasure in it. I like Jonny, I would pick him every time ahead of Foakes when he is playing well," the former England captain wrote further. 

"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. 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.

It needs some courage now from Stokes to leave Jonny out. England have to win at Old Trafford and not focus on the Oval and maybe creating history. They have to square the series first and that is about focusing on the present and not getting ahead of themselves," he added.