England opt for Jones as wicket-keeper
England coach Duncan Fletcher says Geraint Jones will be his team's wicket-keeper in the first Ashes Test against Australia in Brisbane next week.
Jones was a member of England's victorious Ashes side in 2005 but lost his place this year to Chris Read who is also in the touring party.
"Fred (Andrew Flintoff) and myself had a good meeting yesterday and we decided we're going to go into the Test with Jones," Fletcher told reporters after the first day's play of the tour match against New South Wales.
"It was just on the batting front," Fletcher added. "At this stage we're convinced that Jones will be a better prospect for batting at number seven."
Jones did not take a catch or make a stumping as New South Wales reached 5 for 325 at stumps, though he kept wicket tidily enough.
-Reuters
I guess the best news for England is that if they're going to pick Jones, that they're more likely to pick Monty Panesar as in theory they can tolerate his weak batting. But it's still a highly surprising decision.
But that Fletcher has publicly announced this decision after Day 1 of the opening tour match, is a rather presumptious and even arrogant move. What if Jones spills some more easy chances and doesn't make any runs in the rest of the warm-up games?
I can understand to an extent the concerns about Read's batting. In one of the innings I saw him play against Pakistan, while he made a contribution with the bat what stood out for me was how much he shuffled across the crease and was a prime LBW candidate before he was eventually given LBW.
I guess what this whole debate illustrates is how underrated Alec Stewart was. While he never really delivered with the bat against Australia, what's often overlooked was how reliable a gloveman he was. In the large amount of Tests that I saw him play against Australia, I can hardly remember any errors or dropped catches he made.