Foakes finished unbeaten on 113 on day two against South Africa at Old Trafford as the home side declared on 415 for 9 to build a first innings lead of 264. Although it was by no means the sort of attacking innings we are used to The Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, the Surrey wicketkeeper who reached three figures from 206 deliveries, were a vital contribution when England needed it most. He was a particularly useful knock along with Stokes, who scored 103, as the pair put on 173 for the sixth wicket. Having gone in at 147 for 5, trailing the Proteas by four, the absorption of pressure and subsequent run accumulation, accelerated when Fukes was batting with the tail, was a nod to a lot of introspection and hard work paying dividends. for the 29-year-old. His first century came in his first innings in this format in November 2018 in Sri Lanka. Since then, he has established himself as a reliable No.5 for Surrey: seven of his 13 now first-class hundreds have come for the county – he began his career at Essex, for which he has three – at an average of 43. While he initially struggled to really get going by batting lower for England and adopting a completely different mindset, that was a major step in the right direction. “It’s a different role, at Surrey I only hit five and just play,” Foakes said. “When you take a lot of tough wickets batting at seven, obviously there’s a good chance you’re going to lose wickets quickly and you have to play a different way. I think for me it’s about learning how to do it to the best of my ability. Just because it’s not my natural game I find a way to be able, very early in my innings, to put pressure back on the bowler and not just hit. “When I hit five hundreds it’s definitely something I think about, but at seven I think more about just trying to contribute because obviously you’re not going to get as many chances to get a hundred. If I can get 40 with the tail and dominate that partnership, that’s my job. Getting a big partnership here and getting a century definitely gives me some confidence going forward.” There was palpable relief when he got another major score on the board 14 Tests and four years later, not least with a fist-pumping celebration to himself before receiving a warm hug from then-partner Ollie Robinson and the appreciation of a packed Emirates Old Trafford. Since his debut, Foakes has either been in and out on a whim or lost his place due to injury, as happened in early 2021 when he tore his hamstring. Then, during the Headingley Test against New Zealand earlier this summer, a bout of Covid-19 ruled him out of the second half of the match and the subsequent Test against India. Twin defeats at Lord’s (6 and 0) heaped more misery on him, but he has come out the other side in impressive fashion. His average of 26.91 coming into this match has already improved to 31.82 thanks to the red ink. “I felt terrible in that game [Headingley]”To have the chance to be number one and then so soon after something like that is very disappointing, I’ve had a lot of things going on since I first played but I’m used to little setbacks like this. “To be honest, in my first 10 matches I was looking at it and thinking ‘how tough is Test cricket’. The West Indies tour [in 2019]the wickets out there – and then I went in for those three in India [last year] and it was obviously crazy to bang and I guess that’s a different role too. “I think I’ve just been out of touch,” he said of his performance at Lord’s last week. “I didn’t put it as well as I would have liked in the last two games of the Championship and then the first one at Lord’s. So for me it was about figuring out how to do it better. That’s what I worked on between those two games. And I felt I gave it up better and played better. “Because it’s not my natural game, I’m just trying to learn how to play better. And I think sometimes I don’t have the balance right because I’m not explosive. If I’m trying to run the score I can start pushing the ball and things like that and playing on balls that I shouldn’t have been. It was very clear, obviously obviously I practiced in a different way for that role, but I’m also very clear when I’m going to bat or when I have to push the button… how I’m going to do it. Don’t fly my bat outside the off-stump. I’m happy to get out if I do this or that, but not just give away.” Vithushan Ehantharajah is Associate Editor for ESPNcricinfo
