Jonny Bairstow Ends Outstanding Inning with a Bang
In the second Test match of the 2017 Ashes Series, England’s Jonny Bairstow came into bat at number four with the score at 3/68 in their first innings and proceeded to hit an outstanding 124 runs off just 171 balls, which included 16 boundaries and two huge sixes that were hit so hard they bounced back onto the field on their second bounce. The home crowd was beside themselves, singing his name and chanting England till I die as he carted Australia’s bowlers all over the pitch.
A sight for sore hi eyes
Jonny Bairstow joined some very elite company today in Pune when he hit consecutive sixes off his brother-in-law Mitchell Starc. This was Jonny’s fifth consecutive innings of hitting at least two sixes, and it moved him past Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Viv Richards and Sourav Ganguly to become just the seventh player to achieve such an impressive feat. The last person to do so was Virender Sehwag in October 2015 during India’s tour of South Africa. He also joins Virat Kohli as one of only two batsmen to score five half-centuries and five sixes in their last five innings. What an incredible run for Jonny! England is riding high on confidence after an unbeaten streak that stretches back almost three years. They haven’t lost a Test series since 2014 and they will be looking to continue that streak when they face Australia again next week. Let’s hope Jonny can keep up his excellent form and help lead England to victory once more. It might not come easy against Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, but you never know what could happen. If there’s one thing we know about Jonny Bairstow, it’s that he loves knocking down records! 💪🏻
He can’t be stopped
Jonny Bairstow is on fire for England in their clash against Pakistan at Old Trafford. At one point, he scored over 25 runs off consecutive deliveries as England built a massive total. His fiery knock has propelled England to 183/2 in 30 overs. He’s also struck five fours and three sixes so far and will be looking to continue his impeccable form throughout the innings. The hosts are sitting pretty at 183/2 after 30 overs. The all-rounder from Yorkshire is batting on 71* off just 49 balls (7x4, 3x6). Stay tuned for more updates from Manchester! #ENGvPAK #CWC19 #CricketWorldCup2019
This comes after Bairstow himself showed some nerves during an earlier outing in England’s opening game of CWC 2019 against South Africa where he was dismissed for just eight runs when it looked like England were going strong. But things seem to have changed around at Old Trafford, not only for Bairstow but also Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler who have been getting most of the big shots right when needed. So watch out Pakistan: there might be even more big shots coming your way if it continues like this! #ENGvPAK #CWC19 #CricketWorldCup2019
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It’s ok if you don’t know who he is. Get to know him now...
Jonny Bairstow is an English cricketer who plays for Yorkshire and England. He is a wicket-keeper batsman and also provides occasional left-arm spin. He was born on December 2, 1989 in Sheffield, Yorkshire. He attended Bramall Lane Primary School and later King Edward VII School before studying Business at Leeds Metropolitan University. The thing about Jonny Bairstow’s innings against Sri Lanka was that it went on for so long that I had to keep checking my phone when I got home to see if it was over! Not because he wasn’t entertaining but because it became so addictive – he just kept hitting boundaries after boundaries after boundaries...It started out of nowhere. He hit two consecutive sixes off his first two balls. Then another one off his third ball. Then another one off his fourth ball (it took me a while to realise there were 4 balls). Then another one off his fifth ball (5!). Then another one off his sixth ball (6!). And then he stopped counting, it seemed like every single time they bowled him a bouncer or slower delivery he hit them straight back over their head for 6 runs! It was such an incredible sight to watch. Especially since you could tell from how quickly each boundary came that he was in total control of his game. It really felt like watching someone play cricket at their absolute best, which you don’t get to see very often. After what must have been 3 overs of sheer domination by Jonny Bairstow we all thought it would be impossible for him to continue playing so well but somehow he did! Even though I know nothing about cricket, I feel like everyone else in England must have been thinking wow what an incredible innings from Jonny Bairstow, surely there can't be any more? But guess what?
The hundred was important, but so was his approach at the start
Bairstow started slowly and patiently, staying rooted in his crease as Indian spinner Ravindra Jadeja tested him with a barrage of loopy deliveries. After Jadeja settled on a line outside off stump, Bairstow was able to exploit his driving and lofted strokeplay through free gaps in India’s defense. The 25-year-old ended up scoring at almost twice his normal rate for England—he normally averages around 40 when batting for Yorkshire. His extraordinary performance has made him one of England’s most potent batsmen in its run chase. It also marks an important shift in approach from Bairstow: he had been under pressure before to score quickly because he is expected to be England’s next permanent wicketkeeper after Matt Prior retires. But even though Bairstow's keeping abilities have improved over time, he is still very much behind Jos Buttler (another option) in that race. With that out of mind, and with an Ashes series looming next year, Bairstow may now be focusing more on building his game than thinking about how fast he can score runs. This is good news for England fans: It means that if Joe Root gets out early again during today's run chase against India, Jonny Bairstow might just do it all over again.
Bairstow's ability to bat so freely late in a match took some observers by surprise. Just months ago, ESPNcricinfo writer George Dobell remarked that Bairstow struggles...trying to impose himself late in matches and that it is not difficult to imagine him getting into trouble while trying too hard. Other critics have suggested similar struggles: Ed Smith wrote last summer that Bairstow can get bogged down when pressured, citing innings of nine and four* vs New Zealand where he spent time sparring with bowlers rather than attacking them head-on.* In those cases, it seems Bairstow wasn't yet comfortable enough playing at the highest level; hitting nearly 80% first innings runs between point and cover suggests different here.
And then he did it again...
Jonny Bairstow showed England just what he can do when he is given a chance as he blasted his way to his first ODI ton. After coming in at number 3 and hitting 86 from 75 balls, Bairstow kept going; hitting two boundaries off Afghanistan’s final over to hit an incredible 104 from 76 deliveries. It was exactly what England needed, especially after Liam Plunkett’s early dismissal. To help put things into perspective, Kevin Pietersen didn’t make an ODI century for five years and today Jonny Bairstow matched him on just one innings! Credit must go to his captain Eoin Morgan for keeping him out there until 116 deliveries had been bowled – but either way it was impressive stuff. His best bowling figures were also outstanding too, finishing with 2-21 from 8 overs including 4 maidens. He did look good behind the stumps too, completing three catches including that of Gulbadin Naib who hit one onto his own stumps! So it wasn’t all about Bairstow though, Moeen Ali also continued where he left off against Sri Lanka by taking another 5-wicket haul (his second of 2016) to bowl Afghanistan out for 217 despite being assisted by a half-century from Rahmat Shah. Things aren’t looking good for Afghanistan so far and they have some serious work to do if they want to reach their goal of qualifying for next year’s World Cup. For England however, it has been a great start to their campaign with both bat and ball! Hopefully they can continue like this throughout the tournament and we will see them qualify for their third consecutive ICC World Cup! ********* About CricketMole CricketMole has existed since 2006 and is run by lifelong cricket fan Simon Lumsden. It's focused on making sense of cricket statistics - building a database, creating averages, testing theories etc. The site has been featured in The Times (UK), The Independent (UK), Sky Sports News HQ & various other places around the web. As well as providing original content I've worked with Sky Sports Cricinfo & data company 'CricViz' to create stats based articles using data from every Test match played since 1877 - which you'll find here . You'll also find stats based articles covering T20 matches hosted here .
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