Buttler adds more than just his batting, but Denly is in danger
Pope and Wood stand out as success stories of South Africa series, but both need to kick on
technique; he plants his front foot and dangles his bat. There does not seem to be a rhythm to his front-foot play.
He is pressing to play a forward defence to every single ball. A younger player will take his place eventually, and if Denly does not make scores in Sri Lanka, by the time the summer starts Burns will be back and he will miss out.
Ultimately you have to ask how much value are you getting out of Denly going forward compared to giving a younger player the opportunity to play?
How much longer can Denly go on averaging 30 without a Test century when you could potentially throw in a younger player who might give you many years service?
Buttler is a very tough decision. He is clearly a very popular member of the team. He adds a lot of good energy around the group and I am led to believe he is a good thinker and sounding board for Root. You have to bring all of that into the equation when you start talking about dropping a player.
Sometimes there is a lot we do not see that an individual adds behind the scenes, but his performances with the bat have not been good enough.
When you have someone like Ben Foakes breathing down your neck, who is a Test specialist, Buttler will know he is in danger. His batting in Test cricket has never really had a rhythm. It has been stop-start. At times, when they have lost a few wickets and he’s been batting at seven, he has had to play his one-day game because he has numbers nine, 10 or 11 at the other end.
One of the reasons he is in the side is because he can play that role, but you feel he has lost his tempo for Test batting.
He had it when he scored a hundred against India at Trent Bridge, and that was when I thought he would kick on. If he has not been consistent it is because his mind has been confused about when to attack and when to defend.
Technically he is always slightly challenged because he plays with hard hands, but he is such a skilful, talented cricketer that England will be desperate to carry on with him and hope he can find consistency and rhythm with the bat.
He is a senior member of this team and the group will think they have taken massive strides over the past few weeks, so will be reluctant to change anything. But they will have to think long and hard about whether Foakes is a better keeping option in Test cricket.
Personally, I think Buttler will go to Sri Lanka and Foakes will come in for Jonny Bairstow. Buttler is worth another go. He has something special, if it clicks, but he is one more bad series away from getting the boot.