If ever a young batsman deserved a Lord’s hundred it was Jonny Bairstow. After the tough time he had been given earlier in the summer by the West Indies quicks, having to come into this Test series against South Africa in circumstances no one could have predicted and to come to the crease with England in trouble at 54 for four, what he achieved took real courage.
I know as a fast bowler what it means to watch someone jumping about at the other end. You are always probing for weaknesses but any suggestion that a batsman doesn’t fancy the short stuff gets the heart beating faster.
I think his Test debut was definitely a shock to the system. You just don’t get to face that kind of stuff on a consistent basis in county cricket.
Untimely exit: Jonny Bairstow was magnificent and merited a tonAnd when that happens it’s natural for players to wonder whether the problem is more about ticker than technique and once you get a reputation it is hard to shift.
So to make 95 against some of the most hostile bowling in the world is a huge feather in Jonny’s cap.
He went away and worked hard on his game and found a way to play it and he deserves massive credit for that. We were all gutted when he fell five runs short of a ton but we will remember the 95 he made, not the handful he didn’t.
It was clear from the way he took on the Indians in his ODI debut in Cardiff last year that Jonny had the temperament for the big occasion. That showed to us he was definitely a talent worth backing.
Memorable: England players and staff applaud Bairstow as he leaves with Matt Prior on the end of the second dayNow he has repaid that faith, and the future looks bright. The way he coped with losing Matt Prior to the first delivery with the vital new ball said a lot about his game sense and maturity. We needed runs because we couldn’t afford for South Africa to take too big a first-innings lead, but he needed to mix aggression with caution and he did it like an old stager, not someone in his fourth match.
Oh, and Swanny did OK too.
It has been very encouraging for us senior players to watch two young lads make an impact in the last two Tests, Jonny’s effort following on from a mature debut by James Taylor at Headingley.
Of course this is a Test match we are desperate to win after all that has gone on, and we still feel we can, but these two have shown that we can cope with an infusion of new blood, whatever the future may hold.
From our point of view, quite enough negative stuff has been said and written about the Kevin Pietersen issue. At least what Jonny did was all positive.
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