His coach at Essex calls him the best wicketkeeper in the world but James Foster says England are right to focus their energy on the crop of up-and-coming glovesman.

Paul Grayson hailed Foster's ability behind the stumps this week, saying the 32-year-old is in a 'very good place' with gloves and bat.

Yet England's selectors have a number of 'keepers vying for international honours across all formats, with the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Steven Davies keeping Craig Kieswetter and Matt Prior on their toes.

And with seven Tests and 11 ODIs to his name, Foster told Cricket AM he isn't expecting to represent his country again.

"Realistically I think those days are well and truly done," he said.

"I would have liked to have played more than I did but I think now the stocks are looking so good at the moment because you've got the current guys but then you've got people like Bairstow who can keep - Buttler, I think Davies is unlucky not to be playing at the moment in a variety of formats.

"It's really good at the moment so I think they are going to focus a lot of their time and energy onto the young guys and I think they are the future."

Besides, Foster has his hands full right now in his second year as Essex skipper.

The Leytonstone-born livewire spoke to Hampshire midway through last season after the county expressed an interest in him but he chose to remain at Chelmsford and is now trying to negotiate Essex through an incredibly tough Friends Life t20 South group.

"I think it's quite jammed up. We've played some decent cricket even though we've lost those last few games. We lost both games to Sussex - they were very disciplined.

"It's just one of those things - it's a very small line in Twenty20 cricket. You could easily have lost games that you won and won games that you lost.

"We're playing some decent cricket. There's every chance we're going to have to try to win our last three to try to qualify. You just have to back yourself and express your skills on the day.

Foster and Essex came unstuck against international opposition earlier this week when they were hammered by Australia by 179 runs in a 50-over warm-up for the current series between the tourists and England.

Foster reflected: "The stand-out thing was how aggressive they were and how very disciplined they were. They blew us away - they were cruising the game - but they still came very hard.

"Sometimes in those practice games you might drift through the last few overs but they came hard and were very aggressive. They are quite a chirpy bunch of boys as well!

"Pat Cummins was very impressive. For a 19-year-old lad he's built like an ox. He is a strong lad. I think he's got a hell of a future."