Wisden Cricket Weekly: Former England batter Mark Butcher has expressed reservations over skipper Ben Stokes’ decision to drop down to number seven in the batting order for the first Test against New Zealand, starting at Lord’s on Thursday.
Stokes has batted only 17 times out of 216 innings in Tests, compared to 131 times at number six. His batting returns have dipped since the 2023 Ashes, averaging 28.17 from 23 matches with one century and seven fifties.
“Why does he need to drop down to seven? I don’t understand it. I wonder whether that’s a move because Stokes has decided, I’m our best bowler, I’m going to take the new ball, which would not be the maddest thing in the world at all. That to me is a viable and valid option as far as the guys we’ve got.”
"I’m thinking a very long way back to the eighties when Beefy (Ian Botham) bestrode the earth, and quite often he would bat five and open the bowling in the Test team," said Butcher. "He was in the thick of everything. Always. I would rather see Ben at six and get back to his very best with the bat,” Butcher said on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast.
England are also scheduled to play two more Tests against New Zealand at The Oval on June 17 and Trent Bridge on June 25. Further speaking about his disbelief in Stokes dropping down to number seven, Butcher said, "When he is playing well, in terms of skill and in terms of temperament, he provides a perfect ballast to the more dashing players around the order. You’ve got (Joe) Root, who will play at a regular tempo.
“We don’t know what Emilio Gay is going to do, so Root at No.4 playing a regular Test match tempo, Stokes at six playing a regular Test match tempo but able to up it when he’s at his best, and then (Jamie) Smith at seven in the Gilchrist role, which he’s performed so well, Ashes aside, in Test matches at home.
"This is why the theory about him opening the bowling pops up, it’s more likely to happen if (Sonny) Baker plays obviously, but also why does he need to drop down to seven? I don’t understand it, unless there is another role that he’s decided to take on instead, like taking the new ball."
“We don’t know what Emilio Gay is going to do, so Root at No.4 playing a regular Test match tempo, Stokes at six playing a regular Test match tempo but able to up it when he’s at his best, and then (Jamie) Smith at seven in the Gilchrist role, which he’s performed so well, Ashes aside, in Test matches at home.
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"I’m baffled, and I also wish I were playing now. I can’t understand it. I can’t understand how there is a justification for it. My point is I’m not slagging off Jofra Archer, I’m just in disbelief. There are only six Test matches in the summer; if you don’t play the first two, then there are four left."