Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TROPHY SNUB TOO MUCH TO BAIR
Hero batter stands tall as all others fall.. but he will still be stuck on the sidelines
JONNY BAIRSTOW rescued England’s thrillseekers from complete embarrassment on a Lord’s pitch tailor-made for swingers.
But skipper Eoin Morgan insisted it wouldn’t be enough to force his way into the Champions Trophy side in time for Thursday’s opener against Bangladesh. England were skittled for 153 inside 31.1 overs in a seven-wicket defeat – but it could have been much worse. Kagiso Rabada nipped it this way and that to take 4-39, and Wayne Parnell did much the same, to reduce England to 20-6 inside a recordbreaking five overs. While the rest of his teammates edged their way back to the pavilion via the hands of the slips and the keeper, classy Bairstow collected yet another fifty to offer at least some resistance to the irrepressible Protea attack. Despite his show of technique and nerve, the Yorkshireman will still be watching from the sidelines, with the captain keeping faith with struggling opener Jason Roy. Morgan said: “I was very very impressed with Jonny, he never lets us down. “Whenever he comes in, he scores runs and continues to bang on the door. It’s the hardest thing telling him he is not playing when he has done nothing wrong and he scores a huge amount of runs. South Africa bowled beautifully, but it shouldn’t really be the case at all that we were sat up in the pavilion watching our bowlers bat. “As regards selection, Jason is the No.1 pick at the moment. Him and Alex Hales have been our one and two for quite a long time.’’ “They have had ups and downs but ultimately they have played in the fashion that we have played as a team,” added Morgan (below, with the series trophy). England coach Trevor Bayliss suggested it might not be quite so straightforward. He said: “Bairstow is doing everything he possibly can, he is putting a lot of pressure on and that’s what we want. “It will be an interesting selection meeting.” The first three wickets that England lost were clearly down to outstanding bowling, but the next three of Hales, Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid were as loose as it comes, and they will no doubt learn from their wayward drives.