NOT a day goes by at a county ground without someone, be it a player or a coach, a spectator or even a tea lady, asking the same question. “Why,” they want to know, “do the England selectors persist in picking Geraint Jones?”

The suspicion is that only Duncan Fletcher, the allpowerful coach, knows the answer to that because his colleagues, David Graveney, the chairman, and Geoff Miller watch enough domestic cricket and canvass enough opinions to know that there are many better wicketkeepers than Jones, some of whom can also bat at least as well as he can.

There appears to be a conspiracy of silence surrounding the whole debate. Graveney was happy to blame the bowlers for defeat in the first one-day international at Lord’s on Saturday, pointing out that England conceded 23 wides to Sri Lanka’s three and the margin was 20 runs.

He did not mention that Jones missed stumping Upul Tharanga at 59 on his way to 120 and then failed again with the bat, getting dropped at eight and caught for 19. Fletcher, as ever, pointed to the lack of experience in the side yet Jones, who has now played in 29 Tests and 45 one-day internationals, had not given Jamie Dalrymple, playing his first match at that level, the support he needed.

If that seems harsh on Jones, who appears to have the support of his fellow Asheswinning MBEs, how much harsher is it on all those wicketkeepers who strive to maintain a consistent level of excellence without getting the recognition they deserve? In the eyes of everyone except the selectors, Chris Read is the best in the country and arguably the world, and his batting has improved considerably since he won the last of his 11 Test caps. There has been the occasional blip this season, including an ugly spat with Mushtaq Ahmed in a county championship match at Hove, but that is probably because he is trying too hard in his desperation to get back into the side.

James Foster is a far better batsman now than when he was picked before he was ready and discarded after seven Tests. Matt Prior batted as well as Marcus Trescothick in his one-day matches in Pakistan and kept better than Jones in India but was then left out of the development squad, while the long-forgotten Paul Nixon continues to keep up his standards.

Then there are those who never seem to rate a mention. Jon Batty opens the batting for Surrey as well as keeping impressively to spin as well as seam, Luke Sutton, Phil Mustard, Mark Wallace and the unsung Tony Frost can all bat and keep and Nic Pothas, the South African with a Greek passport who is now qualified for England, regularly outperforms all of them.

Finally, there is Steve Davies, 20 last Saturday and just starting his career with Worcestershire but already being touted as Jones’s successor. He shows great promise but, as anyone in the county game will tell you, he is not ready yet. He should be given time to learn his trade. And so should Jones.