The question hung around for years, jumped from one season to the next and never produced a confident answer. Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler or Ben Foakes: who should keep wicket for England’s Test team?
That debate has lost relevance. When Jamie Smith went on paternity leave for the tour of New Zealand at the end of last year, Essex’s Jordan Cox was his replacement. When Cox fractured his thumb before the series, Durham’s Ollie Robinson was next on the call sheet, though Ollie Pope ended up with the gloves for all three Tests. A younger crowd has moved in to take the space, Foakes and Bairstow having been left out after last year’s tour of India.
