Sometimes on tour the second wicketkeeper is as peripheral as the second gravedigger in Hamlet. That may be one reason why Ben Foakes got the summons; it made sense to allow Jos Buttler to remain fresh for the one-dayers rather than traipsing around Australia delivering drinks and encouragement to his colleagues, which can be a sapping process, especially for a senior player.
But sometimes that second keeper takes centre stage. On two recent Ashes tours (in 2006-07 and 2013-14) England switched keepers before the series was out, with Geraint Jones and then Matt Prior being dropped. It is rarely a good sign when such a change is made, as two 5-0 whitewashes suggest. Sometimes the second keeper is drafted in as a specialist batsman and given the flakiness of England’s batting that is not impossible on this trip. This happened to Buttler last winter in India just as it did to Roger Tolchard four decades earlier. So Foakes knows he must be ready to step in at any moment while recognising there is also the possibility of being on the sidelines for two months since Jonny Bairstow has never been more secure in the team. It is easier to do that if you are either a new tourist or as phlegmatic as the great Bob Taylor, who had so many tours as Alan Knott’s understudy.
Foakes is suitably upbeat. “I’m very excited. It has taken a couple of weeks to sink in. Obviously Jonny is world class and I can’t go out there expecting to replace him. I am just trying to prepare for the first game. I played the Under-19 World Cup in Australia and I’ve had a couple of Lions tours there as well as some grade cricket in Adelaide. I think it’s an amazing place to play; the whole package is the best experience I’ve had in cricket.”
Foakes, 24, has many admirers, including his director of cricket at Surrey, Alec Stewart, who rarely understates the qualities of his players, a noble trait but one which is not always to their advantage. Stewart has suggested Foakes is the best keeper in the world. “I saw it on Facebook,” says the England newcomer, “and obviously I had a few Indian fans jibing and bringing up MS Dhoni. But I think to hear that was lovely.”
The Foakes family is no stranger to professional sport. Ben’s father, Peter, was a football referee who officiated in the Premier League in the 1990s. He died prematurely and the wicketkeeper sports a tattoo which displays the date of his passing. “Yes, he was a proper referee; he did the FA Cup final. He died when I was 13. He took me to cricket and got me into the sport; he took me to training, threw me balls and obviously it was a massive hit when he died and it took me a few years to deal with that. He had a heart attack – no warning at all. It was quite difficult.”
Now Foakes has set off on an expedition that would make any father proud. It is bound to be a taxing tour. There may be limited opportunities for him to display his talent behind the stumps, where he is rather more understated, but possibly more reliable than Matthew Wade, who kept wicket in Australia’s last Test. “I’m not a massively talkative keeper. I don’t seek out people to sledge,” he says. “Though there are times when you have to try to get in the batter’s head.”
He is wide-eyed and eager as any new – or old, for that matter – tourist of Australia should be. And he is optimistic. “I think our chances are very good. We have world-class performers with a lot of experience, which makes a real difference to any side and I think it’s about how the less experienced guys are able to support them and lift our games and learn from them.”
