“Ben Foakes is the best wicketkeeper in the world,” says England skipper Ben Stokes
The newly-appointed English Test skipper Ben Stokes has heaped praises on the wicketkeeper-batter Ben Foakes and tagged him as the best wicketkeeper in the world at the moment. Notably, Foakes was pivotal in the victory against New Zealand in the Lord’s Test as the right-handed batter stitched a match-winning partnership alongside Joe Root in the 2nd innings. He also was solid with glovework behind the stumps.
In the first Test against the Kiwis, Ben Foakes held on to five catches, including one catch in the first innings and four catches in the second innings. Meanwhile, he fell for just seven runs with the bat in the first innings, but in the second innings, he remained unbeaten for 32 runs under massive pressure and added 120 runs alongside Joe Root to win the match for his nation.
Now, the skipper Ben Stokes has acknowledged Foakes’ contribution and hailed the wicketkeeper as the best.
To have Ben Foakes behind the stumps gives me and the bowlers a lot of confidence: Ben Stokes
“We’re not in the position to not select world-class players at the moment. Ben (Foakes) 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,” said Ben Stokes as quoted by mirror.co.uk.
“But that situation of going in last night, for 45 minutes, was a very, very big part of the game, and he handled it very, very well. The way he kept — he took some catches which he made look very easy but they weren’t. To have a gloveman like Ben (Foakes) 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,” Ben Stokes concluded.
Ben Foakes has scored a total of 545 runs in 12 Tests for England, including one century. Meanwhile, England will look to take an unassailable lead in the series as they face the Kiwis in the 2nd Test starting on the 10th of June at the Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
