Ben Foakes won’t waste time fretting over Jonny Bairstow’s return after injury

Ben Stokes’ men are flying at the moment and head into tomorrow’s second Test in New Zealand with ten wins from their last 11 outings.

With Foakes such a safe pair of hands, that just adds to the selection headache for captain Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum if and when everybody is fit for duty.

The bowling stocks are already fit to bursting with the Ashes on the horizon, with the likes of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes all vying to join the current squad, but another thorny issue lurks in the top seven.

Bairstow is effectively guaranteed a place when he recovers from the badly broken leg he suffered at the end of a run-filled career-best summer in 2022, but his return is unlikely to come at the expense of Harry Brook, who looks a permanent fixture at No.5 after an extraordinary start in Tests.

One route back for Bairstow would be reclaiming the gloves – as job he has done in 49 of his 89 Tests – with Foakes as collateral damage.

Foakes said: ‘Naturally you’re going to think about things but at the stage I’m at there’s no point stressing over it.

‘I’m having some good form in my career and I’m just trying to enjoy that rather than stressing about what else might happen.

‘My England journey has been a bit of a rollercoaster from day one and I’ve had a lot of times out of the team where I’ve thought, “How do I get back in?” but I guess thinking about those things doesn’t help my game at all.’

For now, Foakes is well served by letting his performances do the talking. In Mount Maunganui he was typically tidy behind the stumps but most striking was his calmness at the crease, particularly in making a controlled 51 in an otherwise explosive batting display on day three.

Foakes said: ‘I don’t think it’s smart for me to go and try to be Ben Stokes or Harry Brook. I’m not, as you’d say, “Bazball”,’ he said. ‘I can’t do what a lot of these guys do. If I did that I’d just get out so it doesn’t make sense for me to try.

‘It’s about staying true to myself. You do have a look up at the scoreboard at your strike-rate, you want to keep it above 50, but it’s a strength of mine to play slightly more “normal” cricket.’

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