Following the squad announcement, Key defended the county’s right to select a team that meets its specific requirements. In Surrey’s case, they are chasing a third successive County Championship title with a team that includes Foakes as a No. 5 batsman and Dan Lawrence, who Key specifically named as a “reserve batsman” in the England Test squad, as a frontline spinner.
“People are never happy when they get eliminated and I don’t want them to be happy,” Key said, adding that Test coach Brendan McCollum’s first decision was to inform both players of their elimination.
“Johnny just needs to get back to where he was a few years ago,” Key said, referencing Bairstow’s incredible performance during the original “Bard’s Ball” summer of 2022. At that time, he amazingly turned around the fortunes of the Test team by scoring four hundreds in five innings.
However, shortly afterwards he suffered a sudden leg injury while playing golf and although he recovered enough to regain his place in the Test team and T20 World Cup squad, questions continued to be raised about his mobility on the field, especially after being selected as wicketkeeper for the Ashes series last summer.
“Generally his form has gone a little bit wrong in all formats,” Key said. “I’m hoping he gets back to the form that Brendan and Ben (Stokes) had when they started. It’s tough being a keeper. You need a player who can back up series after series and I wasn’t sure Jonny could do that, especially at this stage of his career.”
“Ben Foakes is a great goalkeeper. His goalkeeping is not a problem at all.” Key said. “But we want someone who can up the ante when needed. We think he can absorb the pressure and when batting with the batsmen opposite him, he is more than capable. But his task is to bring in others. That’s his side of the game.
“It’s not just about having one or the other. We want someone who can hit both styles of ball, and I think Jamie Smith can do that.
“Sometimes you pick people based on what they can become and where they can develop,” Key added. “We’ve been watching Jamie Smith for quite some time. He was at the Lions when I watched him in Sri Lanka a few years ago and he looks like a rare talent.”
England have made some unusual demands on the wicketkeeper’s role in recent years. Notably in 2021, Gloucestershire’s top batsman James Brace, who has limited experience behind the stumps, was thrust into the role at short notice after Foakes experienced something strange in the dressing room. He was injured and struggled noticeably in the two Tests against New Zealand. Ollie Pope most recently served in a stopgap role for Pakistan in 2022.
But Key had no doubts that his new selection would live up to the standards expected of a Test class wicket-keeper.
“Obviously we won’t see much of him continuing to be involved in county cricket, but he’s more than a stopgap goalkeeper, that’s for sure. This is the beginning for Jamie Smith, and we think he’s going to be a fantastic international cricketer. He just needs a chance, and he’ll get it.”
A similar argument could be made for preferring Basher over Ritchie. Ritchie has been a key player in England’s Test attack in recent years, particularly as a reliable subordinate to Stokes, and even more so since he played a vital supporting role in England’s miraculous win at Headingley in 2019.
However, Key said the character Bashir displayed in the first series in India could not be ignored. There he arrived with a record of just ten first-class wickets in limited opportunities against Somerset and left with two five-wicket hauls.
“I loved watching him do what he did in India,” Key said. “It was hard for someone to come in and do what he did. And when you watch him bowl, you really think he’s got everything as a spinner. And he’ll get better.
“He is at the beginning of his career now so we are supporting him to grow as time goes by. But that doesn’t mean Leach’s time is over with us. If there is a time when we need a second spinner, I think in a place like Pakistan it would be Jack Leach.”
“Oli Robinson has been back to his best form in the last few games and we need to see that more often. “Now is not the time to take our foot off the gas because we have some really good bowlers.
“Dillon Pennington probably wasn’t on our radar at all, but I’ve loved watching him bowl this summer. He’s got some pace, he’s relentless in his consistency and he’s also relentless in his bowling angles. He’s a great player and we enjoyed it.”
“Jimmy will continue to help us with our setup and be more of a mentor,” Key said. “We’re trying to put together an elite coach development program that Jimmy wants to be a part of, but we’ll see as the summer goes on.
“It may be something he doesn’t enjoy, it may be something he absolutely loves. But he has so much to offer English cricket that we don’t want to see it go away. But it will be quite a big event for him to step down from Lord’s.”
Andrew Miller is ESPNcricinfo’s UK editor. @miller_cricket
