Jonny Bairstow will follow in the footsteps of his late father David after agreeing to become Yorkshire’s red-ball captain, with Dawid Malan taking over the T20 side.
The White Rose have held off officially installing Bairstow until the week before the start of the county season, with the 35-year-old having previously held out hopes of featuring in the Pakistan Super League or Indian Premier League, but he is now signed up to spearhead the club’s return to Division One.
David Bairstow held the role for three years between 1984-87 and his son has picked up the baton almost four decades later.
“He played here for 20 years and was captain as well. There’s not many fathers and sons who have done it,” said Bairstow.
“The county is embedded in my heart, and I take immense pride in representing the club on the field. To now be able to do that as captain, in what will be an exciting season, is a real honour.
“If they’d have asked me 10 years ago I’d have done it. How can you not? It’s one of the biggest clubs in the world and it’s a very difficult thing to turn down.”
Despite vast experience in the game, including 100 Tests and 187 limited-overs internationals, Bairstow’s senior captaincy experience extends to a solitary T20 match in 2015 and two games at Welsh Fire in the Hundred.
Asked what kind of leader he will be, he said: “I’ve played with a huge array of different captains over a long period of time going back to Mags (Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath), Andrew Strauss, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, and you’re able to pick up different things throughout the journey.
“But I’ll do it in my own individual way and, whether that is right or wrong, that’s OK.”
As for Malan, once rated the world’s number one T20 batter and a World Cup winner in the format in 2022, the task is to deliver Yorkshire’s first trophy in the Vitality Blast.
At 37 he is ready to give the job his full focus, having accepted his international days are over – albeit prematurely in his eyes.
“Do I still think I was good enough to play last year? Yeah, I do,” he said.
“Someone gets paid a lot of money to make those decisions and they decided otherwise. But I think too much in English cricket is made about ages, not really about performances.
“I probably didn’t score as many runs as I’d have liked in the T20 stuff for a little period, but in 50-over cricket I think the last year, year-and-a-half, I performed in every series.
“Time moves on. If you’re going to look back at every decision with regret or with bad or ill thoughts, it’s going to be a lonely world.
“I enjoyed my time with England but my time is done and my time has now been putting everything that I have and I can into Yorkshire.”
PA
