Ben Foakes

Ben Foakes, is a 28 year old right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman, who represents the England cricket team and has played domestic cricket for Surrey and Essex. His father, Peter Foakes, was an ex-Premier League referee, who motivated Foakes to take up cricket as his profession. 

Born in Colchester, Essex, Foakes made his debut for England in 2018 against Sri Lanka, and since then has been in and out of the England Test team. 

Ben Foakes is renowned for his lightning wicket-keeping skills predominantly than his batting. His excellence behind the stumps for Surrey in 2016 quickly earned him the reputation as the best gloveman in the country. 

Foakes started his domestic career in 2011 with Essex county, and made his debut against the touring Sri Lankan team at Chelmsford. He struggled in his very first season with the club and it wasn’t until 2014 when he moved to Surrey that ECB started to keep a close eye on him. 

From 2014 till 2017, Foakes kept on piling runs and was eventually selected for the 2017-18 Ashes, though he did not end up playing in any of the international matches. 

In October 2018, Foakes was added to England’s Test squad against Sri Lanka. He had a dream debut as the wicket-keeper scored his maiden Test ton, scoring 107 on a turning track at Galle. He became the 20th English batsman to score a Test ton on debut, the second English wicket-keeper to achieve this feat after Matt Prior, and the fifth wicket-keeper batsman overall. 

On the same tour, the whole world took notice of his wicket-keeping skills as it was nearly faultless on turning tracks. 

Foakes played his only ODI match in 2019 against Ireland, where he scored a magnificent 61 and helped his team to victory over Ireland. 

However, the honeymoon period for Foakes got over pretty quickly as Jonny Bairstow was soon back as the first-choice wicket-keeper for England. Poor performance with the bat and an underwhelming 2019 domestic season, resulted in Foakes getting dropped from England’s Test squad. 

Foakes went back to the domestic circuit and performed heavily with the bat, and as a result was re-called to the England’s Test squad against Sri Lanka in 2020. 

It would be an understatement to say that Foakes is England’s best gloveman by a country mile. Yes, he needs to work upon his batting, and it is the job of the England team management to get the best out of Foakes, who clearly is a talented cricketer.

(As of February 2021)