A home ton, I’m living the dream!
Sportsmail columnist JONNY BAIRSTOW on his Headingley heroics
A BIG BUCKET-LIST TICK
Well, I said last week in Sportsmail that scoring a Test century at Headingley was top of my bucket list and I couldn’t be happier to have ticked that box in the first Test. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it now.
It was a pinch- yourself moment, especially after talking about it before the game. I guess it could have been interpreted as a difficult time to come into bat, when we were 83 for five against Sri lanka, but it was an exciting time to come in, too.
I didn’t particularly try to be positive. It was just a question of concentrating on little things. For instance, if you try to run hard between the wickets and push the opposition back, the pressure can turn around on them. It was a tricky situation but it was fun. I just felt at home.
And it was great to bat for a long time with Alex Hales. He applied himself so well and set up the innings. We were all gutted he didn’t get a hundred.
What was it like to get to three figures? Special! I’m not saying I wasn’t nervous in the 90s but I felt quite relaxed. It was an unconventional way to get there, with Steven Finn diving to make his ground and the ball going for overthrows, but you don’t care how they come after grafting to get that far.
I just screamed ‘run’ to Finny and to get to a hundred for england at Headingley is something I will never forget. I looked to the skies, as I did when I made my maiden Test ton in Cape Town, and I don’t think that will ever change because I thought about my dad, David, both times. This time I thought about the massive role he had at Yorkshire, the runs he scored at Headingley and my family heritage.
My mum Janet was there, of course, and I looked up at her in the pavilion. She works at Yorkshire but they’d given her the day off so she could watch. There were a group of my old friends from school, too, all dressed as Jonny Bairstows!
One of my mates had asked if he could borrow some of my old shirts but I didn’t know what he wanted them for. I couldn’t miss them on the Western Terrace — eight lads all wearing ginger wigs!
HOME COMFORTS
THERE was an amazing roar when I got to a hundred. Yorkshire people love to see one of their own do well. I remember batting with Joe root at Headingley when he got his first hundred and thinking what a huge noise they made.
It’s part of the blueprint of coming from Yorkshire. If you’re doing well they love it and if you’re not they’re not slow in telling you. It toughens you up. It’s in the DNA, but the Yorkshire crowd were fantastic.
Did you see the four blokes dressed as huntsmen chasing the fox? Or the butchers chasing a pig? It was all happening…
KEEPING THE FAITH
I WAS annoyed with myself when I got out because it was a soft dismissal. Things were going well and there were more runs to be scored, but we moved on and things started to happen quickly in the field.
I was really pleased with my keeping and I’m happy with the way I’m catching the ball. Taking nine in the Test thrilled me just as much as my hundred.
I’ve put in a lot of work with Bruce French and some of the technical things people have talked about have been rectified. They were little things. People talked about my weight distribution, but it was more that my alignment wasn’t quite right. We are only talking a matter of inches but it can make a huge difference.
This game was a massive plus for me because I really want to be an england all-rounder. One chance went down but that can happen. It was one in front of Alastair Cook that might not have carried to slip. My weight and head were good but the ball just hit the wrong part of my hand. The hard work carries on.
HOWAY THE LADS
IT ISN’T just Frenchy and Paul Farbrace who I’ve been working with on my keeping. I had a day up at Newcastle United with their goalkeepers, Karl Darlow and rob elliot, who are massive cricket fans, looking at how they dive and the comparisons with wicketkeeping. It was great fun and they made me feel so welcome. I met Peter Beardsley and Steve McClaren, who was manager then, and they kitted me out in Newcastle colours. I was grateful to them.
RIDICULOUS JIMMY
JIMMY ANDERSON and Stuart Broad made the ball talk and that can create difficult keeping conditions because there was not only swing and seam, but the ball was wobbling, too. It was really exciting. You are in the game all the time and a chance could come every ball. For Jimmy to take 10 for 45 in the match was ridiculous. His skills are just insane. I really don’t know how I got the man of the match award ahead of him, but I was so delighted about that. A Test century on my home ground, my first in england, nine catches and my 25th Test cap: it doesn’t get any better than that. Now on to Durham, where we will be doing all we can to win the series.