Jonny Bairstow has been told his England career is not over, despite being axed in all three formats in the space of two months.
Bairstow was one of a number of senior players culled from the white-ball set-up on Monday, as England named their squads for next month’s T20 and ODI series against Australia, with national selector Luke Wright admitting this morning that the batter was “hugely disappointed” with the call.
Vice-captain Moeen Ali and veteran seamer Chris Jordan have also been dropped, though in both cases it had become clear that their international careers were winding down.
Bairstow, however, insisted only last month that he had no intention of walking away from England, vowing to win back the Test place he had lost to Jamie Smith at the start of the summer.
“It’s not the case, when we spoke to him, that he’s done,” Wright said. “We just want him back to [being] one of the best players in the world.
“He understands that. He doesn’t like it. One thing Jonny will do is fight back, and I hope he does and gets himself back in the team.
“I'm certainly not going to write Jonny off. Jonny's countless times when people have shown them that they're wrong, and hopefully he shows that we're wrong as well.”
England named five uncapped players in their T20 squad - three of whom will also feature in the ODIs - in a clear sign they are ready to start a fresh cycle in white-ball cricket following disappointing World Cup defences in both formats over the past year.
The latter of those, at the T20 version in the Caribbean this summer, saw head coach Matthew Mott lose his job, with Marcus Trescothick to take charge against Australia as interim.
Despite those underwhelming campaigns, Jos Buttler has been backed to stay on as captain and will be fit in time for face Australia following the calf injury that saw him miss the Hundred. Wright also revealed that the 33-year-old is weighing up whether to pass on the wicket-keeping gloves to take up a more prominent position in the field. It is thought he could continue as ‘keeper in the 50-over format but step aside - likely for Phil Salt - in the T20s.
“It is something that he's considering at the moment,” Wright said. “I think it's something he's open to, he's spoken about that before. Probably the need to be in the field and be with the bowlers at times. So, it's something that could easily happen in this Australia series.”
England’s multi-format Test players will sit out the three-match T20 series, which begins the day after the Third Test against Sri Lanka is due to end, but the likes of Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith, Matthew Potts and Gus Atkinson will all join up for the five ODIs that follow.
The exception among those who are fit is Joe Root, who is being rested ahead of a busy Test autumn, despite the series marking the start of England’s rebuild towards next year’s Champions Trophy.
The lack of 50-over cricket played by England’s biggest names was blamed as one of the key reasons for their World Cup blowout in India last year, but Wright insisted managing Root’s workload is the priority and confirmed he remains very much part of their plans.
“Rooty he's given a lot to English cricket,” he said. “We've asked a lot of Joe over the years and we want to get as much cricket out of Joe as possible. I'm sure so do the fans want to see as much. So, there's no reason why he can't then come into the major tournaments.
“Those top players are able to adapt as well as possible and I don't think it's as big a problem for them as it would be for some of the others. So that's why it's great to get that cricket into some of the younger guys.”
