Bairstow emotional at comeback ton

Jonny Bairstow disclosed the difficulties which preceded his comeback century against Sri Lanka, revealing hours of rehabilitation, bad news from home and criticism all fed his emotional celebrations.

Bairstow has only been out of the Test team for two matches, a football-related ankle injury sidelining him in Galle and the selectors’ reluctance to change a winning team keeping him out in Kandy.

Yet the highly charged reaction to his sixth hundred hinted at a deeper story - eyes bulging, bat and helmet discarded and a guttural holler of ‘yes’ seemingly combining to express pride, relief and a hint of righteous indignation.

His 110 in fiercely humid conditions at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club was a remarkable effort, particularly against a backdrop of his unexpected move to the problem position of number three and the loss of his cherished wicketkeeping duties to Ben Foakes.

Speaking after England closed on 312 for seven, the 29-year-old appeared to still be battling with a number of rival feelings, both personal and professional.

“You can take it how you want to see it,” he said of his celebration. “I’d like to hope I’ve come through most challenges along the way and I’m desperately proud.

“You’ve got to sometimes take everything on the exterior: what people write, what people say, people’s opinions and park that. Sometimes you use it as a motivator but also it’s the internal drive of what you’re doing it for and who you’re doing it for, that goes a long way.

“That’s the bit that means the most out there... the days when things aren’t going well, for your mates back home that make sure everything’s OK.

“It’s the hard work you put in behind the scenes that no one sees. The sleeping on ice machines, the rehab you put in. It would’ve been quite easy to say, ‘I’m not fit’.

“You could quite easily take your bat home for whatever’s gone on but putting things in perspective and what have you over the last couple of weeks has been massive.”

Perspective came in the form of heartbreaking developments off the field.

He explained: “Two friends have unfortunately have passed away over the past couple of weeks. A lad that we played with on the academy at Yorkshire unfortunately passed away in his sleep and another friend of ours that we spent time with in Sydney passed away all of a sudden from a heart attack.

“It just shows that we’re playing a game of cricket and people seem to have an opinion on that.”