During the 2011 English season, Foakes made his debut for Essex in a first-class match against the touring Sri Lankans at the County Ground, Chelmsford. He was dismissed for 5 runs in Essex's first-innings by Thissara Perera. He took three catches from behind the stumps, taking two in the Sri Lankans first-innings and a single catch in their second. In September 2011, he signed a professional contract which ran until 2013. On 14 August 2014 it was announced that Foakes had joined Surrey County Cricket Club.
International cricket
Foakes made his debut for England Under-19s in January 2011, playing two Youth Test matches against Sri Lanka Under-19s during England's tour to Sri Lanka. It was during this tour that he made his Youth One Day International debut, to date he has had made six appearances in that format, most recently in July 2011 when he played three Youth One Day Internationals against South Africa Under-19s. In September 2017 he was named in England's Test squad for the 2017–18 Ashes series, though he did not end up playing in any of the international matches. In October 2018, he was added to England's Test squad for the series against Sri Lanka. He made his Test debut for England against Sri Lanka on 6 November 2018, scoring 107 in the first innings and getting England to a competitive total. He was the 20th batsman for England to score a century on debut in Tests, the second English wicket-keeper to do so after Matt Prior, and the fifth keeper-batsman overall. In April 2019, Foakes was added to England's squad for the one-off One Day International against Ireland and the one-off Twenty20 Internationalagainst Pakistan. He replaced Sam Billings who was ruled out of the side with a dislocated shoulder. He made his ODI debut for England against Ireland on 3 May 2019. He made his T20I debut for England against Pakistan on 5 May 2019. On 29 May 2020, Foakes was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 June 2020, Foakes was included in England's 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the Test seriesagainst the West Indies. On 4 July 2020, Foakes was named as one of the nine reserve players for the first Test match of the series.
