Bairstow defends ‘terrible’ catching
JONNY BairstOw has defended his England colleagues amid criticism they dropped too many catches during the test series win over west indies.
Joe root’s team shelled 14 chances over the three tests, including six in the second test at Headingley which saw the tourists score 322 in the fourth innings to claim an unlikely victory.
it led to criticism from coach trevor Bayliss, who described the team’s catching as ‘terrible’ and demanded an improvement ahead of this winter’s ashes tour of australia.
wicketkeeper Bairstow offered an explanation for the missed chances at his home ground Headingley, saying it all came down to positioning.
He said: ‘People make mistakes. we’ve all dropped catches before and that’s the nature of being in the slips.
‘People say no catch is an easy catch but it’s even harder coming out of a crowd that are all wearing different colours.
‘Perhaps one thing people didn’t realise is how close we were standing at Headingley because we had two that dropped short down the hill and that doesn’t normally happen. ‘so we went up a metre-and-a-half from where we started the day. when the second new ball came around, that metre-and-a-half at the 86mph Broady (stuart Broad) was bowling is a huge space.
‘it gives you a heck of a lot more time to adjust and, if it wobbles or swings, it’s all compounded by how close you are.
‘But we weren’t good enough. we know that and it’s something we need to put right leading into the winter.’
Having received a fair amount of criticism in the past for his keeping and batting, Bairstow has taken satisfaction in the chatter dying down over the past year.
His performances behind the stumps have remained solid and Bairstow batted with assurance at No7, especially in the series against south africa.
‘i’ve been delighted with my keeping this summer,’ he said. ‘it’s something i have worked really hard on.’
Bairstow was called into England’s last ashes tour in 2013-14 ahead of the fourth test with the series already decided.
He added: ‘Going over there now with the experience we had, both positive and negative, we know it will be a very hard tour. But if you do well over there, people respect what you do.’