Jamie Smith can combine best of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes, says Rob Key

Rob Key says concerns about Jonny Bairstow’s form and fitness and Ben Foakes’s batting led them to hand England’s Test wicketkeeping gloves to “rare talent” Jamie Smith – who he believes can combine the best of both men.

Surrey’s Smith was one of three uncapped players – alongside fast bowlers Dillon Pennington and Gus Atkinson – in a squad full of surprises confirmed by managing director Key and his panel on Sunday. Key has refused to close the door on the Test careers of any of those dropped, including Bairstow, Ollie Robinson and Jack Leach, but said the squad had been selected with an eye on the future.

He also confirmed that James Anderson would remain with the England squad for the remainder of the summer as a “mentor” following his retirement after the first Test of the summer, against West Indies at Lord’s on July 10.

Smith’s selection has attracted attention because he is not even the first-choice keeper for his county – Foakes takes the gloves for Surrey – but Key is confident in his panel’s due diligence. Smith followed his call with his second century of the season for Surrey.

“We’ve been watching Jamie Smith for quite some time. He was on the Lions a couple of years ago when I watched him out in Sri Lanka [when Smith scored a 70-ball century],” he said. “And you just see players who you think are rare talents, really, and he looks like that, Jamie Smith.

“We’ve done a fair amount on his keeping as well, because obviously we don’t get to see much of him keeping in county cricket, but he’s more than a stopgap keeper, that’s for sure.

“You want to go and ask the people who know the best. We’ve got a few of those guys, so we asked James Foster, Chris Read, Alec Stewart.

‘Smith just needs his opportunity’

“They’re very complimentary of Jamie Smith. Make no mistake, Ben Foakes is probably the best wicketkeeper in the world, but Jamie Smith’s a very good keeper.

“There’s a lot made of us wanting someone who will go out there and play shots. That’s not the case. We want people who can not only up the ante if they have to, batting with the tail, but soak up pressure as well. And we feel that Jamie Smith can do that.

“Also, sometimes you’re selecting people for what they’re going to be as well, and where you think they can progress to. So, it’s very much the start for Jamie Smith. And we feel that he’s going to be a fantastic international cricketer. He just needs his opportunity, which he will now get.”

Key said the management had concerns about Bairstow’s cross-format form, as well as his fitness at 34 to keep day after day.

“People are never happy when they’re dropped,” he said of Bairstow. “I never want people to be happy when they’re dropped. I think that’s completely the wrong way to be. But Jonny just needs to get back to what he was a couple of years ago.

“I think, generally, his form, in all formats, has just been going slightly in the wrong direction. And you want him to get back to what he was when Brendon [McCullum] and Ben [Stokes] started out [in 2022].

“It’s an arduous task being a keeper as well. So, you want someone who can back up series after series. We weren’t convinced that Jonny would be able to do that, especially at the stage of his career that he’s at.”

Key said it was Foakes’s all-round batting that held him back.

‘We want someone who can both soak up pressure and attack’

“Ben Foakes is an excellent keeper,” he said. “His keeping’s not in question at all. But as we said to him, we want someone who can just up the ante at times when required. We feel that he can soak up pressure, and when he’s batting with a batsman at the other end, he’s more than capable.

“But his challenge and his task is to be able to bring that other side to his game. And I just want to reiterate, really, it’s not just about having one or the other. We want someone who can have both those forms of batting, as we do with every single batsman.”

Key said Leach, dropped for Shoaib Bashir, would likely return to the squad for October’s tour of Pakistan, but said that Robinson needed to show “more of his best” as he battles with the likes of Chris Woakes and Matthew Potts for a spot in the side as a steadier seamer.

Key added that England would review a disappointing T20 World Cup in which they were beaten by eventual winners India in the semi-finals, in the coming weeks, but provided no assurances that coach Matthew Mott or captain Jos Buttler would still be in charge when England host Australia in September.

“I’m not going to rush anything on that, but, like we always do, we’ll start looking at what’s the best way for that white-ball team to move forward,” he said.

“At times, I thought we showed how good we were and at times we were inconsistent. We’ll let the dust settle on the World Cup and then move forward from there.”