Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BAIRSTOW: WE NEED TO STEP UP TO STAY ON TOP
JONNY BAIRSTOW admits England have a target on their back as World Cup winners and will have to evolve in the next three years if they are to hold on to their crown.
Engalnd’s combative opener posted an unbeaten century yesterday in the final warm-up before the South Africa ODI series starts on Tuesday. But he insisted victory last summer has put them at the top of every teams’ hit-list from now until India in 2023, demanding improvement.
“It’s lovely being World Champions but at the same time now you have got a title on your head that makes people, even more so now, want to beat you,” he said.
“It’s part and parcel of where we are now and we have to think about how we evolve as players to try to get into the best possible shape to move forward in this series, the next one and those going forward over the next period.
“Everyone is going to come hard at us, South Africa to start, then all the way through whoever we are playing are going to want to beat us.
“I believe we can get better over the next few years but it is about pinpointing areas you can evolve in different conditions.” England’s final warm-up match became contrived practice yesterday.
Having posted 346-7 – England had South Africa Invitational XI 103-3 before reframing the chase to a 10 over run chase of 85.
Leg spinner Matt Parkinson took three wickets in five balls to rock the hosts but a sloppy seam bowling display allowed South Africa to hit the revised total with two balls to spare.