For making a brilliant Test debut in the last Test, English cricketer Ben Foakes has been awarded the wicketkeeping role again for the second Test against the hosts Sri Lanka at Kandy, starting on Wednesday (November 14), despite the first-choice wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow is fit for the game.

The 25-year-old English right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes recently made his international cricket debut in the first Test of the ongoing three-match Test series against the hosts Sri Lanka at Galle. In his first Test innings, Foakes rescued his team from a difficult situation and hit a brilliant century (107) that led his team for a great victory by 211 runs. Apart from that century, Foakes also played a quick-fire 37 runs knock in the second innings and also won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant performances.

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Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Bairstow has been declared fit for the second Test of the ongoing away series. However, the English skipper Joe Root finally took this tough decision by choosing Foakes over Bairstow as he wishes to go with the same Galle Test playing XI for the second Test.

Earlier, Bairstow suffered an ankle ligament injury during the training ahead of the fourth ODI of this tour and missed the remaining limited-overs matches as well as the first Test in this tour.

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Coming to the ongoing Test series, after winning the five-match ODI series (3-1) and one-off T20I in this Sri Lanka tour, England is now looking to seal the three-match Test series as well, while they are currently leading the Test series by 1-0 after the first Test. Root is happy with the first Test performances and he is expecting another solid performance in the second Test that will secure their Test series victory with another win.

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While England has announced the same playing XI for the second Test, Moeen Ali is likely to be slipped down in the batting position. As the left-handed batsman has recently failed at the no.3 position, including a golden duck and a 3-run innings in the last Test at Galle, Ali is likely to going down at the no.6 batting position.

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On the other hand, Jos Buttler has recently claimed that he would be happy to bat at any position, including the no.3.

England’s playing XI for the second Test against Sri Lanka at Kandy: Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Jos Buttler, Joe Root (capt), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, James Anderson.