Ben Foakes will not lose sleep over whether he features in England’s Test plans for this summer.
The Surrey wicketkeeper was back in the England XI for the winter tour of India and once again impressed with his skills behind the stumps, but failed to register a fifty in 10 innings during the 4-1 loss.
Foakes has been in and out of the team since his 2018 Test debut and missed last year’s Ashes after Jonny Bairstow was given keeping duties.
The wicketkeeper berth is seemingly up for grabs ahead of home series with the West Indies and Sri Lanka this summer, but Foakes, who scored 205 runs at an average of 20.5 in India, is relaxed about his position.
“I haven’t been told anything,” Foakes said.
“Obviously the more years I’ve got into my career, the more I’ve been in and out, I’ve almost come to an acceptance that it has been the case and not try to worry about it or stress too much about getting a long run or external stuff.
“India, first and foremost, I took as just trying to really enjoy it. I think the more times you get dropped, the more times you realise you don’t know how long you’ve got left or whatever it might be.
“So while you’re out there, rather than stress too much about the game or this might be my last chance, just enjoy the fact you are playing and you don’t know how long for essentially.”
The series started with a high for Foakes, who shared a crucial 112-run partnership with Ollie Pope in England’s remarkable first Test win in Hyderabad.
A number of other starts with the bat were made by the 31-year-old, but he often batted with the tail and expressed his disappointment after failing to “kick on” during his 47 in Ranchi.
Foakes added: “I felt like I kept pretty well, keeping felt good. To start off, I didn’t feel amazing with the bat and then, yeah, disappointed in a couple of innings that I didn’t kick on.
“Again, that role of batting lower down, batting with the tail, the more I do it, the more I look at it as how many times can I impact?
“Because some series you might not get an opportunity to go big, big for example, so it is very crucial when you do get a chance to try and really kick on, which I was disappointed in the fourth Test where I could have kicked on and didn’t.
“(I’m) still evolving and trying to learn with the tail and how to manage those sort of situations.”
While Foakes bats at seven for England, he has gained the majority of his success for Surrey as one of their top-five batters, which has contributed towards a first-class average of 38.52.
Foakes will aim to be back in the runs next week when Surrey begin their Vitality County Championship title defence with a trip to Lancashire, but he acknowledged the uncertainty over his England place provides one dilemma.
“Every summer in the past, I’ve not known whether I will play so I’ve played every (Surrey) game,” Foakes said.
“I did look at the Test schedule and there would be the chance to play 28 Tests and Champo (games) if I did play from the start of India until the end of New Zealand, obviously depending on selection.
“If that was the case and I did play, that is quite a lot of cricket so there would be potential to have a rest, but again it depends on what they’re looking at. Whether I am likely to play or not and then reassess.”
Borthwick names unchanged starting England team for Australia clash
Steve Borthwick has named an unchanged starting team for England's match against Australia on Saturday with two changes on the bench.
England enter their second November Test looking to bounce back from their narrow 24-22 defeat to New Zealand last weekend.
Borthwick, however has elected to name the same group that started against the All Blacks, though Henry Slade will shift to inside centre, while Ollie Lawrence moves to outside centre.
Marcus Smith retains his place at fly-half while Jamie George continues to lead the side at hooker, but there is no place for Theo Dan or Ben Curry.
The pair are replaced by Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme as England move from a six-two split between forwards and backs to a five-three combination.
Hooker Cowan-Dickie will make his first England appearance since November 2022 if he is introduced off the bench.
“Facing Australia is always a massive challenge, and we’ll work diligently this week to ensure we’re physically and tactically prepared to take on the Wallabies,” said Borthwick.
“The passion and energy from the crowd at Allianz Stadium last weekend was absolutely brilliant, from the opening whistle to the final moments, and we can't wait to be back at home this Saturday."
England squad in full:
George Furbank, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Tommy Freeman, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer; Ellis Genge, Jamie George (captain), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Curry, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Fin Baxter, Dan Cole, Nick Isiekwe, Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall, George Ford, Ollie Sleightholme
Dottin among nominees for ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October
West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin has been named among the three nominees for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for the month of October.
Dottin made her comeback for the national side at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, and was a driving force as the islanders reached their first semi-final at the event since 2018.
She was instrumental in victories over Scotland and Bangladesh, but saved her most valuable contributions for the latter stages, where she shone with the bat, ball and in the field in their group stage win over England, before producing a memorable individual display with 33 runs and four wickets in the thrilling semi-final defeat to eventual champions New Zealand.
Dottin will be going up against New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt for the award.
The nominees for the Men’s award are New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner, Pakistan’s Noman Ali and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada.
Kevin Sinclair replaced by Junior Sinclair in Harpy Eagles Super50 squad after internal report to GCB
All-rounder Kevin Sinclair will take no further part in the Guyana Harpy Eagles CG United Super50 Cup campaign in Trinidad and Tobago. The decision made by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) followed the submission of an internal report by the Harpy Eagles' management team that it was necessary to replace the player.
The GCB, in making the revelation, also announced that Kevin Sinclair will be replaced by Junior Sinclair in the squad at the tournament.
Though the GCB’s statement did not clarify if sub-standard performance is the reason behind Kevin Sinclair’s ejection from the squad, it pointed out that it was a “necessary squad adjustment.”
“Following an internal report from the Guyana Harpy Eagles management, it has been decided that Kevin Sinclair will no longer be participating in this year’s competition,” the statement read.
In the three matches played in the Super50 Cup, Kevin Sinclair tallied 14 runs and snared three wickets.
He made 14 from 16 balls against Windward Volcanoes and took 2-66 from 10 overs in the same match.
However, he did not bat in the rained-out contest against Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and was dismissed without a score against Barbados Pride and only took 1-26 from 10 overs in that same match.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles are winless after three matches.
A similar situation arose last year during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament when organisers announced Kevin left the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad for “personal reasons.”
Kevin Sinclair’s departure opens the door for Junior Sinclair to take up a spot in the Harpy Eagles squad ahead of Tuesday’s contest against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Guyana Harpy Eagles Squad: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Matthew Nandu, Tevin Imlach (captain), Kevlon Anderson, Kemol Savory, Junior Sinclair, Keemo Paul (vice-captain), Ronaldo Aimohamed, Veerasammy Permaul, Isai Thorne, Ashmead Nedd, Nial Smith, Sylus Tyndall, Rampertab Ramnauth.
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