Ben Foakes admits winning the Ashes on his home turf at the Oval would be the ‘icing on the cake’

Ben Foakes begins a season he hopes will culminate with him lifting the Ashes urn at his home The Kia Oval ground trying to ignore the Jonny Bairstow-sized cloud hanging over his head.

The Surrey keeper-batsman remains the favourite to drop out of the England side once Bairstow, the star of ‘Bazball’s’ first summer, is fully recovered from the badly broken leg he suffered in a freak accident slipping at his local golf course.

Harry Brook, the man who replaced Bairstow for the final Test against South Africa last summer, has made one of the best starts to any England career and is undroppable while coach Brendon McCullum insisted after the one-run defeat by New Zealand in Wellington that backing for under pressure opener Zak Crawley remains as strong as ever.

All of which, with McCullum insisting Bairstow will ‘walk’ back into the Test side when fit, leaves the selectorial finger pointing at Foakes, particularly after Sportsmail’s revelation the Yorkshireman plans to take the gloves if he has recovered in time to play two County Championship matches ahead of the one-off Test against Ireland on June 1.

Foakes, 30, is resigned to the situation and knows he will be perennially under threat even though he was again outstanding behind the stumps in the drawn series in New Zealand and came agonisingly close to winning the thrilling final Test at the Basin Reserve with the bat.

Ben Foakes is hoping to keep his place as England’s wicket keeper for the summer Ashes

Foakes (right) doesn’t want to let speculation that Jonny Bairstow (left) could replace him in the team become a ‘distraction’

England head coach Brendon McCullum (pictured) will have to decide whether to stick with Foakes or bring Bairstow back for the summer series

He was confronted with the issue as soon as he appeared at Surrey’s media day on Monday and, with a weary shrug, explained how he prefers to concentrate on his own game these days rather than worrying about missing out on a seismic Ashes summer.

‘There’s just no benefit me concerning myself with that,’ said Foakes at the Oval when asked about the imminent return of Bairstow. ‘The easiest way I’ve found to deal with this is not dealing with it – just not worrying about what it means for me.

‘It’s just a distraction I don’t need. It can muddle your thinking if you think ‘this might happen so I’ve got to do this’ or ‘I’ve got to do extra.’ It takes you away from what you do well and just makes your job more difficult.

‘I think experience has taught me this. When you play county cricket you don’t get much outside noise and then all of a sudden with England it ramps up significantly and that can be a difficult thing. But now I stay off social media and just ignore it all.’

There is no question Foakes has justified his role in the Ben Stokes-McCullum revolution. He had struggled to nail down a place in his 20 Test career because of the extensive options England have with bat and gloves and untimely injuries and illness but he looked at home in New Zealand as a genuine all-rounder like never before.

Foakes admitted winning the Ashes with England at his home county ground the Oval would be the ‘icing on the cake’

Foakes admitted he wants to be play his part in England’s success under captain Ben Stokes (left) and McCullum (right)

‘I’m really happy with the way it’s gone,’ said Foakes ahead of champions Surrey’s opening match against last year’s runners-up Lancashire at Old Trafford on Thursday. ‘One thing I’ve taken from England is it’s about how many times can I impact a game?

‘How many games can I contribute to in a positive way and over the winter I was pretty happy with how I did that. I’ve jumped on the wave of what’s been happening with Stokesey and Baz and it’s just been good to be part of.’

And Foakes made it clear he wants to be back at the Oval at the end of July having won the biggest prize in Test cricket. ‘As a Surrey player it would be unbelievable to be playing here in that final Test,’ he added. 

‘The Ashes often do come down to what happens here and to play in an Ashes and win the series on my home ground would be the icing on the cake.’