Gay’s two centuries this year, the first of which came on the season’s opening day, follow four in Division One in Durham’s relegation season last year.
One of those in 2025 came against champions Nottinghamshire and another against Surrey, who finished second.
“Is he good enough? Quite possibly,” said BBC Newcastle commentator Martin Emmerson, who has watched Gay throughout his Durham career.
“Consistency is key, though. While he scored nearly 1,000 runs in Division One last season, there were also five ducks early in the year.”
Gay will have three more Championship matches to further press his case before England’s hierarchy convenes to pick their squad for the first Test of the summer against New Zealand on 4 June.
For the last two of those matches, against Worcestershire and the return at Kent, he will have Stokes in the dressing room, assuming the all-rounder’s recovery from cheek surgery continues as planned.
There are also two four-day Lions fixtures against South Africa A scheduled for late May, with England’s players coming together for a camp in the week in between.
Selections there may reveal plenty.
The first Lions match may be when England get their wish in seeing 22-year-old left-hander James Rew face the new ball.
He is another of the outstanding candidates despite his 379 runs at an average of 75.80 coming in Somerset’s middle order. It is not inconceivable Rew, Gay and McKinney all line up against the Proteas second string.
Over the weekend Haseeb Hameed and Dom Sibley, two openers from England’s past eyeing a recall, also made centuries which muddied the selection waters further.
It does not help that the position of England’s national selector remains vacant – that recruitment process has reached its second stage – but finding context in early-season county batting performance remains difficult, given the lack of similarity between it and the pace and bounce found at Test level.
That is only multiplied when runs flow as they did across this weekend, when all four Division One matches ended in high-scoring draws.
For all of the talk of adapting, England remain keen on batters able to put the best bowlers under pressure and who can deliver on the biggest stage.
What will catch their eye more? Sibley’s 101 from 283 balls in Surrey’s stalemate against Essex or Gay, who thwarted James Anderson and the highly-rated seamer Mitch Stanley to drag Durham from staring at a heavy defeat to victory?
Conversely, Gay’s runs have come in the second division and Lancashire’s attack was tired after four games in four weeks, and Bailey ended the match bowling loopy spin after Lancashire’s request for an injury substitute was rejected.
Context is hard to find but Gay could have done little more.
