I’m in good shape and raring to go
CRITICS SAY HE’S HAD TOO MUCH REST, BUT JONNY BAIRSTOW IS BACK AND RARING TO GO AGAIN
Jonny Bairstow is in no doubt. ‘a break makes you fresh and excited about playing again,’ says England’s player of last year. ‘the last thing you want to do is stagnate and think, “Here we go again, the season’s starting”.
‘you want to be looking forward to going again and seeing the lads. i want to make an impact when i start playing again.’
His words are relevant because Bairstow’s absence from yorkshire’s first two Championship matches of the season has become a major talking point.
the resting of England players from county cricket is necessary while the calendar remains overcrowded but the difference this time is that team director andrew strauss has been encouraging his charges to play in the indian Premier League instead.
if Bairstow had been picked up by an iPL franchise he would not be here discussing the benefits of rest. But strauss is desperate for white-ball cricket to be treated as seriously as red and believes the country’s best players can learn from playing in india.
all of which has not gone down well at yorkshire, with chairman steve Denison tweeting about Bairstow’s stint as a sky iPL pundit while his county were thrashing warwickshire. new coach andrew Gale also spoke of his ‘disappointment’ at Bairstow’s absence. the man himself can understand the feelings of a county he cherishes but is adamant strauss did the right thing, while being unapologetic about being in the public eye while ‘resting’.
‘it’s natural for yorkshire to be frustrated about players missing out but it’s not something that we as a county are averse to,’ says Bairstow. ‘Given the history of the club and the production line of top- quality players it has produced, it’s normal for many of them to be wanted by England.
‘what the absence of myself and Joe root and the bowlers who are out with injury does is provide opportunities for others and it’s been great to see someone like (seamer) Ben Coad step up and do so well.
‘ seven tests in eight weeks before Christmas was huge and then i was still doing all the training and fielding during the one- day series, even though i wasn’t playing regularly. you’re not putting your feet up. you have to be ready to play.
‘so you’ve got to have a rest from cricket after the winter we’ve had and the summer England have
“Not making a
century in India cheesed me off”
ahead but i like to keep busy. it’s been about getting away from cricket and recharging my batteries while having other interests.’
Bairstow, 27, has kept busy. on top of his work with sky he has been to the Cheltenham Festival and to augusta to watch the Masters when a friend asked if he knew any ex-cricketers who might want to join a trip. ‘i told him i knew a current cricketer who would like to go!’ says a smiling Bairstow.
then there was his role helping to promote the desperate need for yorkshire to build a new stand at the rugby end of their ground to ensure they can carry on staging international cricket after 2019. He also found time to return to his old school — the magnificent st Peter’s in york, where once he excelled in so many sports — for a shoot with award-winning Sports
mail photographer andy Hooper. ‘i went down to the south of France on behalf of the Leeds city region as soon as i got back from west indies,’ says Bairstow. ‘i had to go and make a speech to all these investors and property tycoons on why they should invest in the northern powerhouse of Leeds. they’ve got the funding for the stand now so it was mission accomplished and it was thoroughly enjoyable. it was completely out of my comfort zone but i met some amazing people and had to do research and speak about all these new things. it was a real life experience.’
it is evidence, if any were needed, that he remains totally committed to the county with which his family are synonymous and for whom his mother Janet still works. Bairstow talks passionately about yorkshire under new captain Gary Ballance.
‘Gazza’s got a fantastic cricket brain,’ he says. ‘ He’s scored 30 first- class hundreds already. to
have him captaining Yorkshire is a great move and I don’t think it will affect his England chances. If he stacks them up there’s no reason why he can’t play for England again this summer.’
Then there is Mr Yorkshire himself, 39-year-old Ryan Sidebottom. The Bairstow and Sidebottom families have always been close because of the friendship between David and Arnie, and their sons have also become firm friends, with the older Ryan always keeping a protective eye on the younger Jonny and asking him to be godfather to his son, Darley.
‘He’s a stalwart, a true gent and someone who’s done a hell of a lot for English cricket,’ says Bairstow.
‘Ryan has (five) Championship titles, he’s a T20 World Cup winner and he took a Test hat-trick. He’s still got silly skills and it’s a pleasure to keep wicket to him.
‘You almost chuckle to yourself at the ability he’s got and then again when he gets hit for four and you see his hair whoosh back where he’s angry about it. I’ll always remember the Championship wins we have shared and even playing against him when he was at Notts. Facing him was a real challenge and a bit intimidating actually. He’s got two kids and it’s great to see them growing up and playing on the outfield at Scarborough just like I used to. Our families always went to the races together the day after Boxing Day when we were younger and nothing will change when he retires.’
Now it is time for Bairstow to play again and he will line up for Yorkshire against Hampshire in the Championship today ahead of England’s busiest ever summer. Last year, from the moment he scored an emotional maiden Test century at Cape Town, Bairstow was imperious, setting records as a batsman and, to his pleasure, as a keeper. He hit 1,470 Test runs in the year, more than any keeper had ever achieved and just 12 short of Michael Vaughan’s record for an England player. There were also 70 victims with the gloves, another record. Not a bad year’s work then. ‘Last year was the year of my life,’ he says. ‘ There are always areas where you could have done better but that’s part and parcel of it. Why would you play sport if you didn’t want to get better? I’m aware that just because it happened for me last year, it doesn’t mean it’s going to go so well this time. But I’ve got that hunger and desire to keep pushing myself. ‘I want to keep trying to score runs, take catches, not concede many byes and keep enjoying it. The big thing about last year was that I was enjoying everything and the people around me. Success came with that.’ The man who on the way up could be sensitive to criticism, especially about his glovework, is happy now. ‘ I try now to be content within myself and not worry about external factors,’ he says. ‘It’s just concentrating on me and the other lads in the team, and everything else becomes a by-product.
‘Last year proved to me I could do it. There was my first hundred, then another three and then runs in India where I’d only played one game previously. Yes, I didn’t get a hundred there and that cheesed me off but I made contributions.’
Not that Bairstow feels he has ‘made it’ yet. ‘ There’s still a fair way to go,’ he says. ‘I’m not close to where I think I can go but that’s exciting. If I didn’t have that ambition to improve I wouldn’t be sat here now. It’s what drove me on during the 18 months I wasn’t playing for England. Of course it frustrated me to come so close to Vaughany’s record but if you’d told me at the start of the year where I would end up, I would have bitten your hand off.’
Some believed Bairstow should give up keeping but his determination to be an all-rounder has been vindicated and he ended the year with the gloves despite Jos Buttler’s return. ‘ There’s still a long way to go with my keeping,’ he admits. ‘ Yes, it went well last year but there were still chances I missed. That’s the nature of keeping. You can go 180 overs not making a mistake then miss a chance. If you drop a chance with the gloves on it can become the talk of the day. But I love doing it and I want to keep doing it.
‘I don’t want to relinquish either part of my game and I will keep on working hard on both to keep driving my standards forward. One day you will bat well and another you might keep well and when both come off it’s very satisfying.’
Test cricket has gone better than Bairstow could have hoped but he remains on the periphery of the one-day side. England host the Champions Trophy in June and Bairstow wants to be part of it.
‘I’m desperate to get a regular place in the one-day side,’ he says. ‘I feel I’m close and if the call comes I’m ready. I just have to try to start the season well for Yorkshire and put my name in the hat for that squad. And then the side.’
His opportunity with bat and gloves should come in the two one-day matches against Ireland that kick off England’s season next month because Buttler will still be at the IPL, where he has thrived — hitting the third most sixes in the competition so far.
‘Potentially Ireland is a chance for me,’ says Bairstow. ‘If I play hopefully I can press my case.’
Whatever happens he has arrived as an international cricketer of substance as well as style, but he remains true to his roots.
‘Have I changed after last year? You might change within yourself a bit in that you have the belief that you’re able to do it,’ he says. ‘I’d get a clip round my ear from my mother if I changed as a person! And I’m lucky to have good friends who would tell me if I became a bit big-time.
‘I play the game to make my family proud and repay mum for all the times she took me to Headingley, to school matches, to everywhere else through the wind, rain, snow and all those dark, damp nights. To make her and my family proud. That’s what it’s still all about.’