Follow UsFormer England captain Michael Atherton has criticised the England and Wales Cricket Board’s decision not to pick youngster Jacob Bethell for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe later this month.
Bethell was England’s No.3 in their last Test series, against New Zealand in December, and impressed big time, averaging 52.00 across three games in challenging conditions.
However, England did not pick him for the four-day Test against Zimbabwe in order to let the youngster develop in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he’s been representing Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
Atherton believes the ECB should have recalled and picked Bethell, considering he holds a central contract.
"My own view is that Bethell should have been picked [for the Zimbabwe Tests],” Atherton said on Sky Sports.
"That's the point of an England central contract - that you've got control over your players.
"If you're going to put a player on a full central contract - Bethell had been moved from an incremental contract to a full deal after doing so well in New Zealand - then bring your player back.
"It's a Test match. It's an international fixture and international fixtures should have priority over domestic franchise competition.
"I know the policy is players should see through their IPL deals but I don't particularly agree with it."
Atherton believes that Bethell’s absence has done a favour to the management, who will now not have to choose between Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope, both of whom have been struggling in red-ball cricket of late. Had Bethell been fit, one of the two might have had to make way, with Jamie Smith returning.
"Bethell looked to the manner born in New Zealand but then they would have had the tricky decision as Smith obviously comes back,” Atherton said.
"They could bring Bethell into the squad but I'm not sure they will because they are probably happy not to have the difficult call yet."
Exactly a week ago, Bethell became the youngest ever overseas player to score a fifty in the IPL.
Ben Stokes (capt), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Sam Cook, James Rew, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wkt), Josh Tongue