Jonny Bairstow strode to the middle, chest puffed out, in Bristol to an enormous reception, a reflection of the impact of his golden summer.
By the time he was done, England’s victory in the First T20 felt all but assured, although South African rookie Tristan Stubbs did his best to spoil the party. Bairstow had fallen 10 runs short of joining Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan and Heather Knight as English cricketers with a century in each format, but he had added another chapter to a storied summer.
Bairstow can do no wrong right now. He was at his best here, because he looked angry, perhaps with a perception that knee swelling was caused by carting a smiling Sam Curran around on his back in the gym. He struck the ball sweetly for eight sixes, but rode his luck, with four catches dropped.
In the blink of an eye, Bairstow has become England’s last all-format batter. That does not mean he wants rest tonight in Cardiff, though. “You don’t mind keeping the games rolling when you are playing like this, you want to keep the vein of form going,” he said. England’s fans want to watch him at every opportunity, too.
Moments before Bairstow had received that rapturous ovation, there had been silence, as Jason Roy’s painful innings had been put out of its misery. Roy skied Lungi Ngidi, but was already walking off by the time the catch was taken, and did not look to cross with his partner, Dawid Malan. The contrast between Roy and Bairstow, England’s great ODI pair, could barely be starker right now.
Roy looked deeply frustrated not to time any of his 15 balls as his lean trot continued. He performed well in Amsterdam last month, but this white-ball summer has just 160 runs from 201 balls over nine innings. While he had a strong T20 World Cup, his ODI record has been patchy since 2019. “Nowhere near my standards,” he said.
Roy insists that he feels in good form and has come through a period during Covid bubbles when he felt “swamped” and “surrounded” by the game.
“In the past when I have not scored a huge amount of runs, I have felt like I needed to tinker with a few things,” the 32-year-old told Sky before last night’s game. “This time I feel really good at the crease, but I am just not getting the runs.”
Roy has endured tough periods before, most notably in 2017, when he was dropped during the Champions Trophy, opening the door for Bairstow’s extraordinary ODI emergence.
That was a reminder of England’s riches at the top of the order in white-ball cricket. While there are areas they struggle for depth, openers is not one of them.
Bairstow and Malan would probably both like to open in this format; Stokes could slot in there at the World Cup. Phil Salt, Roy MkII, is in the squad and banging down the door. James Vince was the top scorer in the Blast. There are other coming men, from Will Jacks to Will Smeed. Do not even mention Alex Hales.
But a feature of England since 2015 has been the backing they have given players, not least Roy, during poor form. They consider him a standard bearer and tone-setter; it is notable that they have had two World Cup campaigns (in 2019 and 2021) wobble when he got injured.
“He seems normal,” said Moeen Ali, the new owner of England’s fastest T20 half-century (52 in 16 balls). “He’s training well and actually playing alright, he has just not got going. That can happen, and probably has to everyone in this side. He will get backing, for sure. He deserves it, because he has been around for many years and everybody knows how good he is.”
Roy has some remaining credit, and more long-term pedigree than his rivals outside the team. But he would not want to let this international summer pass him by entirely. Tonight, he has an immediate opportunity to turn things around.
