Bairstow redeemed by his heavenly feat

Batsman’s hundred erases the memory of nightclub mishap and evokes poignant tribute

point, for himself and his team, in the city where he was portrayed as a reprobate with no social skills.

There was more than that to the sledging in Brisbane, he claimed in his newspaper column: “Some other things, apart from the ‘headbutt’ business, were said by Australia in the middle but what they were is staying there.”

That warning to Steve Smith’s team not to repeat those alleged remarks seemed to lower the temperature of the sledging, certainly of him. And though he was sufficiently rattled at the Gabba to play a heedless shot that cost him his wicket, his life story prompts the belief that there is not much Australia could say to compete with the darkness of his childhood memories.

His view of life and the world must be shaped in ways few of us could imagine. How that translates to batting and wicketkeeping is another imponderable, except when he celebrates an Ashes century by opening his face to the heavens in communion with an unseen presence.

For his fourth Test hundred, Bairstow swung a ball from Mitchell Marsh down to fine leg, then ran the length of the pitch, and took off, punching the air while off the ground. His landing brought a flurry of kisses for that hat and a playful butt, to play down the significance of the brush with Bancroft but also to put it to bed.

Bairstow was in his element batting at six, where his best form has come, and opposite Malan, who was similarly inspired in the middle of England’s innings. Only when Moeen Ali went for a duck did the England keeper find himself stuck with the tail again. From that moment, he seemed less assured, and lost his own wicket when Mitchell Starc found an inside edge and removed the middle stump. England’s loss of six wickets for 35 runs before Smith assumed command of Australia’s innings affirmed the vulnerability of the batters below Moeen, and left Bairstow secure at No 6 for Melbourne and Sydney.

From the post-midnight gloom of The Avenue to the sun-glossed turf of the Waca, Bairstow has left his mark on Perth and this series. The one he left on Bancroft was erased at last by humour.