Ben Foakes ‘desperate for a game’ after carrying the drinks Down Under

“It will feel a bit weird actually!” laughs Ben Foakes. The wicketkeeper is talking about taking the field on Friday, in Surrey’s season opener against Hampshire at The Kia Oval.

It will feel weird, he jokes, because taking the field is not something he has done a great deal of since September.

As Jonny Bairstow’s understudy, he has been with England to Australia for 11 weeks then New Zealand for four, and a stint in the Caribbean with the Lions between times.

He has carried drinks, trained his backside off and always been ready when called upon but, besides a session here or there in tour matches and the occasional secondment to the Lions, there has not been much actual cricket.

Such is life for the spare wicketkeeper, the gopher on tour. Unlike almost every other role in the game, you only need one keeper. Foakes is not complaining but he accepts rambling around the Antipodes and not playing can be difficult; those not in the XI on such tours live every high and low as much as those who are.

“It was a very enjoyable winter,” he says. “When I first got in the England set-up I was like, ‘This… is… awesome!’ But it is just tough not playing all winter. Being back-up keeper is a unique and weird position to be in.

“You’re allowed to keep as a sub now so you have to be ready at all times. Sat on the bench I didn’t struggle for motivation, I was itching to get in. Now, I’m absolutely desperate for a game!”

Between Australia and New Zealand, England decided it was best for Foakes and Mason Crane to head to the Caribbean with the Lions to get game time, when all either really needed was home time, away from the game.

Foakes, who is still just 25 and whose father was the late Premier League referee Peter Foakes, first toured with the Lions in 2013 and has lost count of the number of second-string tours he has been on but thinks it is nine or 10.

This time, he lasted one unofficial “Test”, then seemed slightly relieved to be sent home with a bad back.

“The theory behind me going on that tour was good,” he says. “But I needed to get away and rest up.

“The winter before I’d been away the whole time, then straight into the season, then off to the Ashes. There was no break and I needed to get away from cricket. At the same time, I needed some cricket!”

All this for a wicketkeeper Alec Stewart reckons is the best in the world; James Foster, the domestic doyen, thinks you cannot separate Foakes and Worcestershire’s Ben Cox.

There is a decent case to be made that Foakes is England’s only uncapped player of genuine Test class and he is a true all-rounder: a wicketkeeper-batsman who bats like a batsman (he averages 41, and is a beautifully orthodox player) and keeps like a keeper.

If that sounds glib, consider how few wicketkeepers in history have not had an obviously weaker suit.

If Bairstow gets injured, there is little doubt his understudy is ready; there are not many roles the new selector Ed Smith will be looking at thinking that.

Bairstow is a formidable first choice. Since becoming full-time keeper in 2015, Bairstow averages above 46, and is one of only three batsmen sure of his place in Smith’s first squad. He wants to keep in more Tests for England than anyone else; Alan Knott did 95, and Bairstow is still 61 shy of that record.

The 28-year-old will take some displacing but Foakes feels he is clearer about what he needs to do to break in. It seems likely that at some stage they will play in the same XI.

“I understand better what I need to do now,” he says. “In a way, not playing for so long but being involved in the set-up helps, because now I know what challenges are presented first hand.

“I’ve seen the way those guys train and I’ve tweaked a few things about the way I bat and train to ease that step up if it does ever come.”

When he finally takes the field tomorrow, Foakes will be a senior player for Surrey, batting in the top five.

With a new selector in town, it’s time to show that he has carried more than enough drinks.