Jonny Bairstow reckons he is finally showing his true personality as an England cricketer by playing in a thrilling style to put ‘bums on seats.’
But by smashing a second consecutive hundred from fewer than 100 balls, the England batsman actually lifted his hometown Headingley crowd off their seats time and again. And they stayed standing longest to acknowledge one of their own reaching his 10th Test ton and letting his emotions out as he got there.
“It was a good craic and it feels amazing,” said Bairstow. “The first thing Stokesy and I said to each other when we got out there was ‘let’s do another Trent Bridge.’ This is the way that I've always been capable of playing. Sometimes it's a simple game we complicate.
“We're trying to strip back that complicated nature of it back. Allow people to go out and express themselves and their personalities. We talk about growing the game and you grow the game by showing people your personality.
“It means so much to me to play Test cricket for England. That's the kind of guy I am. I wear my heart on my sleeve. That's not always everyone's cup of tea.
“This place is so important to me, and you want to be the one to score the runs on your home ground. Being a Yorkshire lad scoring a Test 100 at home is pretty special with my family and my mates here as well.”
Together, Bairstow and Overton shared a record seventh wicket partnership for England worth 241. Bairstow ultimately made 162, while Overton fell just short of a debut hundred when he was dismissed for 97.
“Our job is to inspire the next generation,” he added. “Our job is to make people want to watch cricket. Our job is to put bums on seats and I think people might want to watch the brand of cricket that we're playing at the moment.
“We’ve hopefully got a lot of children who will be here over the weekend watching, so we want to make sure they are happy leaving the ground.”
