Nasser Hussain Laments England's Hasty Decision To Drop Jonny Bairstow For Jos Buttler

Former English captain Nasser Hussain has opened up on England’s ongoing wicketkeeper-batsman troubles. The English selectors shifted from Jonny Bairstow to Jos Buttler, owing to the former’s poor run of form with the bat. Jos Buttler has not done exceedingly well with the bat either and Nasser Hussain underlined why dropping Bairstow was a reckless move.

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Jonny Bairstow has undergone a sharp decline with the bat in the last couple of years. In Bairstow’s most recent Test against South Africa at the Centurion, he could manage only 1 and 9.

Since then, the Yorkshire batsman has not made it to the Test team and the selectors have preferred Jos Buttler to keep wickets. As far as Buttler’s performance with the bat goes, he has managed only two half-centuries since 2019 Ashes.

The Somerset-batsman also has been below par with the gloves in the ongoing Test against Pakistan. Nasser Hussain has underlined that the problem for today’s glovemen, unlike the old days, is that they have to perform both their tasks to perfection. Hussain admitted that an all-rounder like Stokes retains his place if he does well only with the bat and not ball.

“The problem for today’s keeper-batsman is that he has to do both jobs well. It’s not the same for an all-rounder such as Ben Stokes, who can go through a lean spell taking wickets if he is scoring plenty of runs,” Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail.

It is the reason why the selectors got it wrong to drop Bairstow for Buttler since the former was good with gloves. The 53-year old was also confident that Bairstow had plenty of runs in him despite undergoing a rough patch.

“That’s why it was harsh of England to drop Jonny Bairstow to give the job to Buttler last year because his glovework at the time was excellent. And we also knew there was plenty of potential in Bairstow’s batting for him to come through his rough patch,” Nasser Hussain asserted.

I admire his determination to crack Test cricket: Nasser Hussain

Nasser Hussain went on to praise Jos Buttler’s desire to do well in Test cricket.

However, he believes that the white-ball vice-captain should have stuck to limited-overs cricket and increase his prowess through franchise cricket to remain a vital member of Eoin Morgan’s team.

Nevertheless, underperforming with the gloves would not ease the doubts about his lack of abilities. Walking on day three of the first Test against Pakistan, a lot will depend on Jos Buttler as England trail by 234 runs with six wickets remaining.

“I admire his determination to crack Test cricket. He could have taken the easier option of walking off into a white-ball sunset and playing more franchise cricket, while being an important member of Eoin Morgan’s limited-overs sides. “I applaud him because it shows the character in the bloke, but bad days like yesterday will not satisfy the doubters nor ease the doubts in Buttler’s mind,” he added.

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