England’s Test wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow has been picked in hosts playing XI as a specialist batsman in the fourth Test against India at Southampton. Jos Buttler will don the gloves for England instead of Jonny. English skipper Joe Root had described Jonny Bairstow’s selection as a specialist batsman as a “medical call”.
Earlier, Jonny Bairstow had expressed his desire to retain wicketkeeping responsibilities for England.
“It was a medical call. He didn’t seem fit to be able to keep in a Test for five days, and that was the call that was made,” Joe Root said in his pre-match press conference, adding, “He will be disappointed but ultimately we’ve got to do the best thing for this team to win this game, and we believe Jos is the right man to do it this time around.”
“He loves doing the job. He’s done extremely well over the last couple of years, but that’s part of international sport. You don’t always get what you want. And hopefully he uses it in the right way to drive his game forward.”
Jos Buttler has been keeping the wickets for England in One Day Internationals (ODI) for some time now.
“There are no guarantees in international sport,” Joe Root said, adding, “It (Bairstow’s fracture) has opened the door for someone else. We’ve seen it in the white-ball stuff at the top of the order guys keep coming in and making it very difficult for someone else to make their way back in if they’ve got injuries. Hopefully this is a great chance for these two guys to keep pushing each other to improve and take their games to the next level.”
“Jos has an opportunity for this game and potentially the rest of the series – we’ll have to wait and see – and I think that’s a good thing in terms of development for this group.”
“Moeen will bat at seven because that is where we feel we get the best out of him,” added Root. “The way that Jos [Buttler] and Ben [Stokes] batted at Trent Bridge in the second innings at five and six, they should be given the opportunity to do that again. It was a fine partnership and a great example for the guys of how to play Test cricket in difficult circumstances,” Joe Root concluded.