England coach Duncan Fletcher has put his faith firmly in the gloves of Geraint Jones after naming the Kent wicketkeeper as his first-choice for the Ashes series.
Nottinghamshire's Chris Read had held the position since August, with his last outing coming at an all-round disappointing ICC Champions Trophy for England in India.
Fletcher has taken the opportunity to re-install Jones - widely accepted as the coach's favourite - after Read failed to totally convince with the bat.
The writing was on the wall for Read the moment Jones was selected ahead of him for the match against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra and their current three-day game against New South Wales in Sydney.
And his worst fears were confirmed when Fletcher publicly announced his decision to go with Jones, who played in England's Ashes victory just over a year ago.
‘Fred (captain Andrew Flintoff) and myself had a good meeting yesterday and we decided we're going to go through to the Test match with Jones,’ said the England coach.
‘At this stage we're convinced that Jones will be a better prospect for batting at number seven.
‘Looking at the pressure that he's played under before, we believe he handles the pressure better, and technically, we think he's a better batter on these wickets and especially in Test match cricket.’
