BAIRSTOW’S Flame-haired hero helps send the hosts to within sight of an unlikely Edgbaston victory
JONNY late charge set up a fantastic final day as England moved within sight of an outside shot at glory.
The flame-haired Yorkshireman put his foot on the gas in the last hour of a fascinating tussle as the hosts slowly tipped the balance of the Third Test in their direction.
There was plenty of re-building work to be done as Alastair Cook’s batsmen first concentrated on dragging themselves clear of immediate danger.
But after contributions right down the order Bairstow saw that job to an end and then, along with Brummie boy Moeen Ali, helped turn the screw with a rapid unbeaten century partnership that left Pakistan firmly on the back foot.
Vice-captain Joe Root, who weighed in with a vital half-century himself, paid tribute to his Yorkshire county colleague and said: “The way that Jonny played was oustanding.
“And the manner in which both he and Moeen then went through the gears has put us in a great position.
“You could see it developing throughout. They got the balance right.
“Jonny has always been a very talented cricketer and the way that he has applied himself here has shown that we could have an even more exceptional player on our hands in the next 18 months.”
The efforts of the lower middle-order left England with a 311-run lead going into what could be three vital sessions in the context of this series and, depending on how keen Alastair Cook is to gamble, a chance of victory beckons.
The highest total ever made to win a match in Birmingham is 283 when South Africa triumphed eight years ago.
However, Cook is conservative by nature and unlikely to make an overnight declaration on a flat track that is showing little sign of wear and tear.
But that should take nothing away from England’s main men who put together an impressive body of work as they gradually grabbed the initiative.
And Cook would have certainly been a happy man, having conceded a 103-run deficit after the first innings.
Even though England began yesterday’s play with all 10 wickets intact, their first priority was to establish a position from which they were unlikely to lose.
Early on, their task was put into sharp focus as Cook and then Alex Hales both fell after adding just six runs to the overnight total.
The skipper flashed outside his offstump and was brilliantly snared by Yasir Shah at point, and then minutes later his opening partner nicked off to second slip.
Root then repaired the damage with a half-century before top-edging leggie Shah to short fine leg.
James Vince followed caught in the slips shortly after the second new ball was taken in mid-afternoon.
Although Bairstow (above) lost Gary Ballance, Ali entered the fray and after a slow start the pair happily milked a tiring Pakistan attack. To put their evening’s industry into perspective, there were 142 runs scored in the first two sessions – 10 runs less than in the final two-and-a-half hours. Pakistan bowling coach Saqlain Mushtaq said: “We were only one wicket away from breaking through – if we had done that we would have really been in the game. But Bairstow and Ali batted brilliantly from England’s point of view.
“However, we weren’t going for much more than two-and-a-half runs an over, so we are pretty happy with that.”
But Root said the pressure had now been placed firmly on the shoulders of the visitors who will have to bat out the final day to leave the series all-square going into the decider at the Oval on Thursday. He said: “I’m sure Cooky will want a night to mull over what he’s going to do. We will have to wait and see what happens. “More importantly we have to rock up with the mentality that we can take 10 wickets. “If we can think about how we are going to create chances on that surface then we have a great chance of putting Pakistan under pressure and getting a result.”