"Not good enough" Jonny Bairstow deserved England Test axe, says David Gower

The Yorkshireman was left out of the 15-man squad for the two-Test tour of New Zealand

Jonny Bairstow needed the "wake-up" call of being dropped from the England Test team according to former captain David Gower.

The Yorkshireman was omitted from the 15-man squad for the two-Test series in New Zealand starting in November after a poor showing during the Ashes.

Of the seven England players to figure in all five Tests against Australia, only Stuart Broad scored fewer than the 214 mustered by Bairstow.

Such a dismal display is part of a wider decline suffered by the 29-year-old, who has averaged 25.21 in Tests since the start of 2018. That includes a run of 18 innings without a century and one in his last 32.

And Gower, no stranger to being dropped by England having been unceremoniously dumped by his country for a series against India in 1992 and also replaced as captain earlier in his career, says the decision to leave Bairstow out is unquestionable.

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"The Bairstow thing caught me on the hop a little bit," he told Love Sport Radio. "Although he has not made the runs that he really should have done over the last 18 months, maybe slightly longer. 

"I know Jonny pretty well, he is a really tough character, a real competitor and he is really proud of what has done for England. But we all need a wake-up call at some stage.

"For people like Jonny, he has a key role. We've seen over the last couple of decades the wicket-keeper batsman has become a key role. 

"Everyone expects the keeper to take the catches and Jonny has worked very hard at that. He is a good keeper, a seriously good keeper.

"You then need to be contributing more with the bat. Averaging 20-odd is not good enough for Jonny.

"He will be hurting right now and probably very angry and I can understand all that and sympathise with it, a little bit of introspection, a little bit of saying 'I need to work on my game and reset' which is what the selectors have already told him."