West Indies vs England: Ben Foakes not thinking about his position being under threat after first taste of failure

It seems unjust to consider jettisoning the player-of-the-series in Sri Lanka, but his inclusion forces England to abandon their policy of playing six bowlers

A tough business, Test cricket. You make a century on debut. You follow it up with a half-century. You keep wicket flawlessly. And a couple of games later, you’re fighting for your place. Yet this is the position in which Ben Foakes finds himself as England arrive in Antigua ahead of Thursday’s second Test. Last week’s 381-run defeat in Barbados could tempt England into a wholesale selection rethink, in which case Foakes – for reasons partly out of his control – could be in the firing line.

If it seems a touch unjust to consider jettisoning a man who was picking up the player-of-the-series award in Sri Lanka just a game ago, then the reasons were outlined by his former Essex team-mate Alastair Cook ahead of the series. The success of Foakes, Cook explained, had “changed the dynamic” of the England team, forcing them to abandon their policy of playing six bowlers. And if England, as is customary, decide their response to a batting debacle is to bolster the bowling unit, then Foakes could be one of those to make way.

It would still be quite the surprise, given his spectacular start to Test cricket, and in any case the prospect was not overly exercising Foakes as he prepared to fly to Antigua with the rest of the England party on Monday morning.

“Those are things I don’t think about,” he insisted. “It will drive you crazy. I’m just preparing for the next game. If I get the nod, I get the nod. If not, then good luck to whoever does.”

The first Test in Barbados was Foakes’s first taste of failure at international level. He got a sharp lifter in the first innings, turned a catch into the hands of short leg in the second, scored a total of seven runs, and dropped his first catch in Test cricket, a sharp rising chance down the leg-side off Ben Stokes. By most people’s standards, a tough one. By the standards of Foakes – a player Alec Stewart describes with only the merest hyperbole as the best keeper in the world – close to regulation.

“I didn’t perform last game,” Foakes admitted with refreshing candour. “So I can’t sit there and say: ‘why did you drop me?’ We lost by 300-odd runs, and if a change is needed, a change is needed. Something’s not right if you’re getting beaten by that much.”

In a way, Foakes’s sanguinity is a product of the way he entered Test cricket. A relatively late starter at 25, a late call-up to the tour of Sri Lanka, and a late replacement after Jonny Bairstow injured his ankle playing football, Foakes has learned that these things often defy rational explanation: easy come, easy go. He knows, too, that in an England squad replete with keepers – Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Rory Burns – he is uniquely vulnerable. “If I can get a chance, and give everything I’ve got, you can’t have too many regrets,” he said.

The dropped catch on Friday was a blemish he could have done without, but Foakes said that keeping in the West Indies was tougher than it looks.

“I find this a really tricky place to keep,” he said. “There’s a bit of uneven bounce, and it comes to you at different paces. There are some tricky outfields, too, with the ball bouncing in front of you. I was disappointed not to take that catch. But as a fairly young keeper, it’s about getting used to these conditions.”

Foakes managed just seven runs in total in the First Test (AP)

As for England’s batting, the less said the better. Coach Trevor Bayliss has already blasted his side for their lack of mental resilience after their collapse on Saturday, subsiding from 134-1 to 246 all out, with the part-time spinner Roston Chase taking eight wickets. Foakes agreed that England were caught between two impossible ambitions: having a tilt at the target of 628 or batting out two days for a draw.

“I don’t know if it’s just [about] valuing your wicket more in that sort of situation,” he said. “It’s a strange situation when you have to bat for two-and-a-half days. So maybe it’s that clarity about what you’re going for. We were completely outplayed, but it was one of those games where I felt not much went our way. It was a bit of a freakish game. Sometimes in cricket, you have bad days. It’s about how you bounce back. If we can go 1-1, that game gets forgotten about quite quickly.”

And so to Antigua, historically a pretty decent batting track, although not last year when Bangladesh were getting bowled out for 43 on it. Often the Vivian Richards Stadium turns out to be fairly lifeless, which means there are runs to be had if you can get yourself in. An opportunity, then, for Foakes to cement his place in the side – if, that is, he still has one.