Bairstow turns on Champions style
JONNY BAIRSTOW led England to an 85-run win over Ireland with an unbeaten 72 from just 44 balls yesterday and then insisted he can secure a place in the Champions Trophy team. With only a one-day series against South Africa before the start of the Champions Trophy on June 1, Bairstow, who had to surrender the wicketkeeping gloves to Sam Billings for the Ireland series, is running out of time to force his way into the 50-over side. Bairstow said: ‘It’s something I’ve targeted. I want to be a part of every England side there is. It’s an exciting blend of players we have and there’s a heck of a lot of talent.’
IT IS a measure of the dynamic depth to England’s modern one-day cricket that Jonny Bairstow is still likely to find himself on the sidelines when the serious business of the Champions Trophy begins next month.
There is little more Bairstow can now do to prove he belongs in white-ball cricket just as much as red after a blistering contribution yesterday to England’s second successive victory against Ireland.
Yet it remains difficult to see where the Test player of 2016 will fit in when Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes return from the Indian Premier League next week to join England at a training camp in Spain.
England, of course, will be delighted to have such riches as they continue to build-up to a ‘mini World Cup’ they really do have a great chance of winning.
But if there is any way they could squeeze Bairstow into their first choice XI they would be well advised to do it before they take on Bangladesh at The Oval on June 1 at the start of their attempt to win their first 50- over, global tournament.
Bairstow has begun this summer in the same rich vein of form that made last year the best of his life and here he smashed an unbeaten 72 off 44 balls to add to the 174 he scored for Yorkshire in the Royal London Cup last week.
It was needed yesterday, too, as the departure in quick succession of Joe Root and Eoin Morgan when both looked set for three figures left England in danger of underachieving at a Lord’s ground with a flat pitch and extremely short boundaries. As it was, with the rope on the Grandstand side of the ground only 65 metres from the pitch, England’s eventual 328 for six was little more than par in the turbo-charged world of modern limited-overs cricket.
There were times when Ireland, with the delicious scenario of needing the exact same score they made six years ago to upset England in the World Cup, looked like they might at least come close.
Certainly when Kevin O’Brien, the hero of Ireland’s finest hour with a century in Bangalore, was hitting two sixes there was an outside prospect of lightning striking twice.
But O’Brien soon perished to Adil Rashid and after captain William Porterfield had been dismissed for 82, Ireland had to be content with falling 85 short yet producing a much better display than their Bristol capitulation. It was a case of job done for England against a side who were making their first one-day international appearance at Lord’s.
England looked as though they would reach nearer 400 than 300 when their two captains, Root and Morgan, were adding 140 in 23 overs and Ireland were struggling to take advantage of winning the toss in the early May gloom.
But when both fell within three overs it was left to Bairstow to steady the ship, taking 30 balls over his first 30 and then accelerate spectacularly in a partnership of 88 with Rashid that took the game away from Ireland.
Sixty- one runs came from the last four overs as Bairstow hit three sixes, bringing up the 300 by striking Kevin O’Brien over the ropes and smashing Peter Chase to the longest part of this shortened ground in the last over.
Middlesex’s Paul Stirling got Ireland off to a thumping start but once he had gone and Root had taken three wickets with his offspin — taking advantage of the continued absence of Moeen Ali — there was no way back for the Irish. They must now prepare for confirmation of their Test status
in June while England will be content they look in good shape before the three-match series against South Africa and then that Champions Trophy.
Mark Wood, who took the key wicket of Porterfield and finished the match with 23 balls to spare by bowling Dockrell, has returned to international cricket with aplomb and is a certainty for the big matches to come.
Root has shown that he is a more than capable second spinner if England want to again leave out Moeen, as they did here once they saw the size of the boundaries and the clouds in the sky.
Yet even if Moeen is omitted it is still hard to see how Bairstow can get into the side if everyone is fit which is hugely frustrating for a batsman in the form of his life.
Bairstow began this mini-Royal London series ‘desperately disappointed’ to have missed out on the wicketkeeping gloves handed instead to Sam Billings in the absence of Buttler.
Yet he ended it by providing a very strong case for regular oneday selection.