Jonny Bairstowmade good on Ben Stokes’ promise to provide England fans with even more entertainment this week with yet another extraordinary hundred.
Whether the punters had enjoyed plenty of hospitality during the day, or whether they left the ground stone cold sober, they would all have been wondering ‘what the hell have we just watched?’ It was that kind of day.
From the depths of despair at 55-6, rather than be cowed by the situation Bairstow took up the fight and continued to swing his bat like a blacksmith striking an anvil and boy did it work. With Jamie Overton joining in the fun on debut to wallop 88 not out in a record-breaking seventh wicket partnership that stands at 209 so far, England closed the day on 264-6, and within range of New Zealand’s 329 all out.
When Bairstow reached his 10th Test hundred from just 95 balls with a straight drive for four the ground rose as one in acclaim and he roared with pure emotion at producing another incredible innings in front of his home fans.
It was six years ago that Bairstow had scored his first Test hundred on home soil here, it was scored at a decent lick too from 145 balls, but that was positively pedestrian compared to the way he is playing now.
Only three players have scored back-to-back hundreds from less than 100 balls, Shahid Afridi was the first in 2006 in two matches against India and Bairstow is the third.
In between? Who else but England Test coach Brendon McCullum who scored rapid back-to-back hundreds against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2014.
If nothing else, the impact of McCullum on Bairstow has been jaw-dropping and a dressing room that might have been a little sheepish at 21-4 was punching the air in delight just a couple of hours later.
When it came to the bristiling intensity of Bairstow’s shots and the raw power of his strokeplay, he was in just the same groove as he was at Trent Bridge and the adoring Headingley faithful loved it.
The term being used is ‘BazBall’ to describe the relentlessly aggressive approach to the game that England are trying to employ in the image of their head coach ‘Baz’ McCullum. But his former Kiwi team-mates know that this style could provide chances too, and who better than Trent Boult to exploit them.
Alex Lees was bowled by a beauty that beat his push and clipped the off stump, while Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley both went looking for drives that weren’t there and were bowled through the gap.
And then came Joe Root - the master of Headingley - only to edge a superb ball from Tim Southee through to the keeper. With Stokes and Bairstow both on nought, things looked bleak up against some high quality bowling, so what did they do? All out attack.
Stokes charged down the pitch to his third ball and swatted Southee back over his head for six. Seven boundaries came in the next three overs to get England motoring. It was counter intuitive and looked a little reckless, but there was method in the madness thanks to the clean-hitting skills of Bairstow and Overton.
Stokes tamely chipped a catch to mid-off for just 18 that rather gave his wicket away, but perhaps he had already made his point.
It gave Neil Wagner a wicket from his second ball of the series, but he may well be ruing a dropped caught and bowled chance from Bairstow when he had made 27 and a non review of an Overton lbw shout on five that would have been out.
