Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler switch could become permanent for England
Saturday 25 August 2018 06:41, UK
England coach Trevor Bayliss has admitted Jonny Bairstow's injury-enforced absence as wicketkeeper could become permanent if Jos Buttler impresses behind the stumps.
Bairstow is unable to to keep wicket in the fourth Test against India after fracturing a finger during England's heavy defeat to the tourists in Nottingham earlier this week, but could still play as a specialist batsman.
Buttler, who initially broke into the England team as a wicketkeeper but was recalled as a batsman after a 17-month absence at the beginning of this summer, is set to take the gloves at the Ageas Bowl.
Allowing Bairstow to focus solely on his batting and moving him up the order has long been considered a way of bolstering England's struggling top order, but Bayliss accepts he may have a tough time convincing the Yorkshireman.
"It's like any injury, if someone comes in and does well, then you have a decision to make," Bayliss said.
"That'll be the hard thing, trying to convince Jonny. If that was the way we went, it would certainly be a deep conversation with someone like that. Jonny's a reasonable bloke.
"If that's the way we wanted to go...in the long run, he wants to play Test cricket."
Buttler already holds the gloves in England's one-day setup, a format of the game where the explosive batsman's place in the team has never been in doubt.
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However, Bayliss has warned Buttler, who made his maiden test century in the third Test, that he must prove his keeping can stand up to the strain of Test cricket if he is to displace Bairstow.
"[Bairstow] is a world-class batter, we know that," Bayliss said. "I think he has improved his wicket-keeping over the last couple of years."
"Jos will have to do some hard work as well."
"He has been keeping a lot in one-day cricket -- but keeping 100 overs-a-day can be difficult, day after day, Test after Test."
England lead the five-match series 2-1 and are looking to bounce back from a 203-run defeat at Trent Bridge when the fourth Test starts in Southampton on Thursday.
