Mark Butcher has backed Jamie Smith to retain his place in England's Test batting order, but questioned whether Ben Foakes should be recalled as wicketkeeper after Smith's struggles with the gloves in Australia.
England will stick with Jamie Smith because he's 'very, very good': Mark Butcher
Speaking on Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Butcher praised Smith for ironing out technical changes over the winter following his difficulties in the Ashes series. Smith scored back-to-back hundreds in the opening round of the County Championship, scoring 132 in Surrey's opening round at Edgbaston before hitting 166 at The Oval yesterday (April 10).
"People are going to be furious if Jamie Smith keeps his [England Test] place because people were basically blaming the Ashes loss on the daft shots that he played as opposed to the daft shots that everybody else did," said Butcher. "He was one of the biggest recipients of stick from fans and stuff online and all the rest of it out of the entire tour.
"I think that they will stick with him because I think he's so very, very good. The only question, I guess, for him, he's made this technical change with the batting... Hopefully that works out nicely for him – 130 in the second innings [at Edbaston] and he looks like it's going well – Is it him not keeping wicket? That's the one question around that."
Ben Foakes again, if England are very serious: Mark Butcher
Smith was heavily criticised during the Ashes series for a series of errors behind the stumps, as well as several poor dismissals. That was compounded by Alex Carey, who was able to stand up to the stumps to Scott Boland and Michael Neser, as well as averaging 41.14 with the bat during the series.
In the County Championship, Smith was promoted to bat at No.3 for Surrey, having batted at No.4 in each of the three Championship matches he played during 2025. That partly reflects that Smith doesn't keep wicket for Surrey, with Ben Foakes the first choice keeper in the squad. Foakes is recognised as the most skilled wicketkeeper in England, and he also scored a century in Surrey's opening round match at Edgbaston. He last played a Test in England's Test series in India in 2024, before he was dropped in favour of Smith the following Summer.
"I mean, Ben Foakes, again, if England were very serious about changing their outlook and play, then you've had Carey in the winter standing up for the stumps, wicketkeeping excellence, grit and determination with the bat down at No.7. We've got one like that too, and he happens to be a teammate of Jamie Smith's."
The ECB conducted an internal review into England's performance in the Ashes, the results of which were revealed by Rob Key [England High Performance Manager] and Richard Gould [ECB Chief Executive] last month. While they were clear that neither wanted "a change of philosophy" from the leadership of the side under Brendon McCullum, Key admitted that there had been "a lack of consequence for substandard performance" in the build-up to the Ashes.
England will play their first Test of the home summer against New Zealand in early June.
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