Bairstow drops a clanger
IF Jonny Bairstow was hoping for a quiet end to a day when he extended his purple batting patch to new superlative levels, he was to be sadly denied. From the high of a career-best unbeaten 167 and a near seven-hour stay at the Lord’s crease to help England reach 416 all out came the low of one of the worst dropped catches you will see from an England wicketkeeper on Bairstow’s day of third Test contrasts.
It left him pondering feelings of elation and despair — and also left England pondering what their best XI might be ahead of the series against Pakistan next month.
The second day of this final Investec Test against Sri Lanka became the story of whether the Yorkshireman, who has become such an indispensable member of England’s batting line-up, should also be encumbered by the gloves.
The fact that Bairstow remains, with the gloves at least, very much a work in progress was emphasised again when he barely laid a hand on a regulation chance after Dimuth Karunaratne had edged Chris Woakes.
Lord’s is a difficult place to keep wicket because the ball can wobble after it passes the bat but Bairstow, keeping here for the first time in a first-class match, seemed to lose one that may have dipped slightly. The mistakes are becoming too frequent to be easily forgotten.
The England fielders then did not exactly make life any easier with a series of poor throws to their keeper, one of which struck the end of Bairstow’s finger that left him grimacing towards the end of a long day rather than smiling.
How different it had been earlier when he moved smoothly past his previous best of 150 and added 144 with the impressive Woakes before England’s last three wickets fell for 42 runs in 45 minutes after lunch.
Bairstow may have run out of partners before he had the chance to push for a double century but England were indebted to him for rescuing them from 84 for four even though they fell a little short of par on a near perfect pitch.
The question now is whether he would be better off concentrating on his batting by moving up to five to allow room for Jos Buttler to return and reclaim the gloves he lost to Bairstow last winter.
That question is for another day, however, as England fight to win this series 3-0 against a Sri Lankan side who have finally offered some resistance, finishing the second day here on 162 for one.
Kaushal Silva finished unbeaten on 79 as England struggled to add to their only breakthrough even though Woakes bowled brilliantly without any luck and Steven Finn improved on his frustratingly ineffective bowling of the first two Tests.
Sri Lanka may even put pressure on England if they can bat all day today but, at the very least, they are showing Bairstow and Co which areas still require improvement.