"He is the best wicketkeeper in the world" - Ben Stokes lavishes praise on Ben Foakes
England Test captain Ben Stokes has branded teammate Ben Foakes as the best wicket-keeper in the world at the moment. The 29-year-old has pipped the likes of Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler to become the first-choice gloveman for their Test team.
The London-born cricketer recently played a vital hand in the five-wicket win over New Zealand at Lord's. He remained unbeaten on 32 while chasing a target of 277. Acting as the perfect ally for centurion Root at the other end, Foakes also claimed four catches in the second innings.
A Ben Foakes appreciation post 🙌 https://t.co/0wlt6uVnpj
Vouching for Ben Foakes as England's first-choice wicket-keeper in the longer format, Stokes told Mirror.co.uk:
"We're not in the position to not select world-class players at the moment. Ben is the best wicketkeeper in the world. That's not just my own opinion, that's a lot of people's opinions. Batting at seven, which he does for England, is different from the role that he plays for Surrey because he bats higher up."
Primarily playing at No.5 for his county side, Foakes has racked up 6744 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 39.20. The wicket-keeper has a huge English summer ahead of him with India and South Africa set to visit in the next couple of months.
"He's only going to get better with the more confidence that he gets" - Ben Stokes
Foakes' place in the squad for the ongoing Test series against New Zealand was in serious doubt following a poor tour against the West Indies. Scoring only 96 runs across the three-match Test series in the Caribbean, a potential return for either Buttler or Bairstow behind the stumps was heavily considered.
The more we see Ben Foakes the batter do well in Test cricket, the more we’ll get to see Ben Foakes the wicket-keeper show off his magic with the gloves in Test cricket and Test cricket just seems better with him doing that #ENGvNZ
However, Stokes decided to stick with Foakes for his debut series as England captain. Expecting the wicket-keeper to only go upwards from here on, the captain added:
"He's only going to get better with the more confidence that he gets, and as I said, he's the best keeper in the world and it's great to have him behind the stumps."
He concluded:
"To have a gloveman like Ben behind the stumps gives me a lot of confidence, and it gives the bowlers a lot of confidence, knowing that nine times out of 10, he's going to take everything that comes to him."
Foakes is likely to be retained for the second Test against the Blackcaps. The two teams will compete at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham from June 10 onwards.