Captain Root has Bairstow backing

Jonny Bairstow insists Joe Root’s England are already stronger for all the travails which have come their way this winter.

Bairstow predicts, irrespective of the outcome of the final Test against New Zealand in Christchurch, that his fellow Yorkshireman’s team will begin the home summer on an upward curve.

England closed the penultimate day of a winter campaign which began more than five months ago still searching for a first Test win in seven – and set to lose a second successive series, after their 4-0 Ashes trouncing, unless they can take 10 New Zealand wickets in three sessions.

They managed none in 23 overs before bad light forced an early close at Hagley Park, where England declared on 352 for nine to leave their hosts a nationalrecord chase of 382 – or alternatively to bat out the match for a 1-0 series win.

After New Zealand openers Jeet Raval and Tom Latham reached 42 without loss, Bairstow said: “This winter hasn’t necessarily gone too well, but there are so many reasons for that.”

England encountered myriad unforeseen issues during the Ashes defeat, including the absence of key allrounder Ben Stokes while he waited to discover if he would be charged over an altercation outside a nightclub last September.

Asked how Root has fared on his first tours as captain, Bairstow said: “I think he’ll have learned a lot.

“It’s obviously been a tough winter, (but) it’s not anything that’s down to him.

“There’s been things that will have cropped up that he won’t have expected.

“Yes, he’s the captain, but there’s 10 other guys out on the field that have an opportunity to influence the game. It’s not just down to one bloke and I think (he’s) only going to get stronger.”

As a batsman, Root has developed an unwelcome knack of failing to turn 50s into hundreds, and did so for the ninth successive time after reaching 54 here.

But Bairstow said: “I don’t think it’s a problem at all.

“Having someone that averages 52-53, there’s no-one else in our team that does that.

“We’re very fortunate to have our leader doing that, and it’s only a matter of time before he converts the 50s into hundreds.”

Picture: AP. Jonny Bairstow during his knock of 36 in England’s second innings.