Jonny Bairstow celebrates his terrific century for England against West Indies in Antigua
(Picture: Getty Images)Jonny Bairstow’s century in Antigua rescued England from an opening day of ignominy and should signal the dawn of the fourth phase of their great renaissance man’s Test career.
Bairstow has worn many hats for England. A one-day opener, in Test cricket he has batted everywhere from first drop to No7, been wicketkeeper, close catcher and boundary rider. In 2012-13, he was a player of promise at the end of a great era.
County runs brought him a permanent recall in 2015 and he remained in England’s best side — normally as keeper — until 2019. Since, he has fed off scraps: specialist No3 in Asia, back in the middle order last summer, dropped then recalled in the Ashes.
Never, though, has Bairstow been the leader, or the adult in the room. Even as he edged into the eldest quartile of the team, he has been treated with the kid gloves. On this tour, with James Anderson and Stuart Broad absent, that has changed.
Having made his debut a decade ago, he is the longest-serving Test cricketer in this squad. Bairstow has been given responsibility and has clarity over his place in the side. He says he is “enjoying” his seniority, and is responding with performances.
In his wonderful hundred here, and a similar spiky, spunky effort in Sydney in January, Bairstow has stood up as the senior man. From 36 for four in Sydney, he made England’s only century of the Ashes, a major reason that was the only game they did not lose.
This time, he came in at 48 for four and provided a comparable rescue job. He was careful early, playing the ball late in his stand of 67 with Ben Stokes, Then came the attacking intent — including seven fours in 10 balls — during 99 with Ben Foakes, who also played beautifully.
Late on, against a lively new ball, he consolidated in an unbroken 54 with Woakes. They will look to build towards 300 — a figure that eluded England in 10 Ashes efforts — and beyond today.
In his first two matches of 2022, Bairstow has provided a reminder of quite how good a Test cricketer he can be — a batter adaptable enough to score centuries in six different countries across all five Test-playing continents; a batter ravenous enough to score 1,470 runs in 2016, all while keeping wicket.
There have been many theories as to why Bairstow has not always hit those heights. Certainly, he is not blameless. Technical tweaks, implemented from 2018, that allowed him to access the offside in becoming one of the world’s best white-ball openers led to him being bowled too often. And perhaps his obsession with keeping wicket has been detrimental, too.
Most of all, Bairstow was affected by the recall of Jos Buttler in 2018, as a luxury player at No7 while Bairstow kept wicket at No5. The pair are English cricket’s Lampard and Gerrard; their lavish talents are just too similar to fit in the same Test side.
England must learn their lessons of Bairstow’s long career. They have found him a role that is working at No6 — so far it has been as firefighter, but hopefully he can pile on the pain after a solid start at some stage.
They must not tinker. As he said: “Hopefully, it’s a case of getting a run of games in one position.” That clarity and backing is what Bairstow has always craved.
