Bethell has more or less made the number 3 spot his own and that spot his to lose now as England start to look ahead.
When Jacob Bethell scored 40 in England’s successful chase of 175 to win the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne, it felt like a “here’s what you could have won” situation.
In 11 days, the Ashes were over, but on the 13th, England won in Australia for the first time since January 2011. Since then, the suffering has become worse, especially for Joe Root, who had a 17-match losing streak in Australia prior to Saturday’s eagerly anticipated victory. Ben Stokes, the Test captain, was also relieved because he had lost 11 of his previous 12 matches here.
When England defeated Australia by an innings in Sydney to complete a historic 3-1 victory in 2010–11, Bethell was seven years old and still residing in Bridgetown, Barbados. The 22-year-old’s love for Ashes cricket was sparked by the series, and now he was enjoying his first taste of success. As the player currently holding the No. 3 place for England, he will grace the SCG next week. Six weeks too late, perhaps.
There was a certain amount of regret because he took Ollie Pope’s spot in the starting lineup after Australia had won the first three Tests. Pope, a batsman who has now lost all eight of his Ashes Tests, both at home and abroad, was dismissed after averaging 20.23 from six innings.
After 100 and 90 in the Lilac Hill warm-up match against the England Lions, Pope, who had started the series at first drop, was rubber-stamped. In the process, after a year without regular cricket, he had destroyed Bethell’s seemingly dwindling challenge (Bethell hit 3 and 70 for the Lions). It was only Bethell’s fourth first-class game of 2025 when he played in the fourth Test, earning a fifth cap.
Discussions about whether Bethell might be a better fit at No. 3 started around this time last year. After averaging 52 over the course of his first Test series in New Zealand, Bethell left this impression.
It was surrounded by unique circumstances. Before the first Test in Christchurch, Jordan Cox, who was supposed to keep wicket while Jamie Smith was on paternity leave, broke his finger in the nets. Pope graciously dropped the command and removed the gloves, creating an opening that Bethell took advantage of.
The ECB is to blame for Bethell’s delay in expanding on that initial experiment with Test cricket. At the end of the summer at home, they regretted it, and now they probably regret it much more.
Bethell denied that the No. 3 spot is now his to lose. It shows respect for Pope, who appears to be part of the debris from this dismal tour, as much as it does that he is still figuring things out.
The management of England is still in charge of that. Even if the decision is now clear, it should have been made sooner by Key, Stokes, and head coach Brendon McCullum, who take great satisfaction in making important decisions.