I think we all agree, that Foakes needs to come in with the gloves. That should of happened before the series, and I was shocked he wasn’t selected.
He’s not a flamboyant batter by any means, but he can sit and dig in Flor a fair amount of time, and score steadily. Bairstow just looks all over the place with bat and gloves.
Ideally you want a wicket that’s going to have something in it for the seamers early on, and after a couple of days the ball starts to turn. That’s when your spinner is supposed to come in and take over an end and potentially skittle out the opposition. I think Swann was a brilliant off spin bowler, and that part of our team has been lacking ever since he decided is was time to retire.
Young Ahmed or whoever it may be for the next match or in future needs to be given a fair crack of the whip. Leach isn’t good enough to bowl out a team, and sometimes struggles to dry the runs up from one end. I would like to see us give the young man a chance, but perhaps we will see him feature in India where he will definitely get some assistance.