England captain Alastair Cook has confirmed that Jonny Bairstow will continue as wicketkeeper for the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney.
The 24-year-old was handed the gloves due to Matt Prior's poor form with the bat, but could only make scores of 10 and 21.
Australia captain Michael Clarke said that the Three Lions need to recall Prior as soon as possible, but Cook said that it would be unfair to do so.
"I think Jonny deserves another chance, it's very difficult to come in for one Test match," he told reporters. "We know he's a very talented cricketer, he's got another opportunity in this Test match to show that.
"Matty's numbers stack up very well, he's a fantastic player, you don't do that without being a very good player, having such good numbers and being part of a winning side. But as he said himself, he didn't deserve to carry on playing. Going back to numbers, over the last year, he was not delivering with the bat.
"He's still a fantastic cricketer, he's 31 maybe? He's still got a lot of Test cricket available to him if he wants it and he goes back to scoring runs for Sussex and pushing hard whoever's the keeper at the time."
The fifth Test gets underway later tonight.
Michael Penkman
