Jubilant Jonny’s show of defiance LAWRENCE BOOTH
Bairstow hits blistering century as the tourists show some fight at last
Jonny Bairstow carved Pat Cummins through the off side in the last over of the evening, and did what no Englishman has done since alastair Cook at Melbourne four years ago. He celebrated a test century in australia.
after a series in which three figures have not always been achieved by the entire England line-up, it was a cathartic moment — not just for a player who had been without a test hundred for over three years but for a team who have experienced as many lows as any of their ashes predecessors.
it had not been easy but you wouldn’t expect it to be. when Bairstow joined Ben stokes, England had been 36 for four, and heading for more ridicule. Later, on 60, he took an eye-watering blow to his right thumb from Cummins that briefly threatened to end his day and may yet endanger his tour.
But Bairstow was not for shifting. By stumps on the third day here at the sCG, he had lifted England to a far healthier 258 for seven in reply to australia’s 416 for eight, and changed this series’ rules of engagement during stands of 128 with stokes, who batted through the pain of his side injury to score his first fifty of the winter, and a rollicking run-a-ball 72 with Mark wood.
australia remained on top but the slump in English shoulders had been replaced by something faintly resembling a spring in their step. For Bairstow, there was a more profound reason to take pleasure in an innings that breathes new life into a faltering test career. the first day of this game was the 24th anniversary of his father David’s suicide — a date that has loomed large in Jonny’s life ever since.
there was a poignancy, too, about the venue. it was at sydney, 32 years ago, that David enjoyed perhaps his finest moment in an England shirt, knocking off the winning runs with his yorkshire mate Graham stevenson in a tense one-day international against an australian attack including Dennis Lillee and Jeff thomson. David loved the cut and thrust — and he would have loved this.
without Bairstow’s pugnacity, Joe root’s side would have been facing up to another humiliation after a truncated morning session in which they reached 22 without loss, only to lose four for 14.
after rain delayed the start by more than two hours, Haseeb Hameed — already dropped on two by wicketkeeper alex Carey — aimed a flat-footed drive at Mitchell starc and was bowled for six. it was his fifth single-figure dismissal on a tour that appears to be doing him more harm than good. soon after, australia’s seamers embarked on an extraordinary sequence either side of lunch of 70 dot balls in which time they took three big wickets.
Zak Crawley, on 18, repeated Hameed’s error and lost his off stump to scott Boland, the destroyer at the MCG. root then became the unlikely maker of England’s first test duck in 2022, aiming a crooked bat at Boland and providing a catch to steve smith at second slip. if it felt like the shot of a frazzled mind, Boland now had eight wickets for seven runs since the start of England’s second-innings surrender for 68 at the MCG. Dawid Malan, who has fallen away after making 80s at Brisbane and adelaide, then helped Cameron Green to Usman Khawaja at leg slip in the last over before lunch. sydney had turned pink to raise funds for the McGrath Foundation’s fight against breast cancer and the ground seemed to be blushing on the tourists’ behalf.
when stokes nurdled Boland to short third man for a single, it was England’s first run in 54 minutes. Bit by bit, however, he and Bairstow did what stand-in coach Graham thorpe had asked for in advance. they threw some counter punches at australia — and it seemed to take them by surprise.
wincing every time he exerted himself because of the side injury that may yet rule him out of the fifth test at Hobart, stokes initally rode his luck.
on nine, he was dropped by Cummins in his followthrough. and on 16, he was given lbw to Green by umpire Paul reiffel, only for replays to reveal an astonishing reprieve: the ball had brushed not pad but the outside of stokes’s off stump, somehow without sufficient force to dislodge a bail. it was the slice of fortune he needed. He hit three fours in a row off starc — whip off his pads, on-drive, pull — then took the attack to nathan Lyon, who had spent much of the morning in the ear of the batsmen. By the time Lyon pinned stokes for 66, his first eight overs had disappeared for 51, and the chirps had dried up.
Jos Buttler came and went with underwhelming haste, chipping Cummins to short extra cover for a duck. whether he is at Hobart after hurting his hand in the field remains to be seen. Last night, England called up sam Billings, who had been playing for sydney thunder in the Big Bash, and been about to head off to the Caribbean for five t20s under Eoin Morgan.
But Bairstow was energised by the arrival of wood, who justified his elevated position at no 8, and pulled an incredulous Cummins for three sixes en route to a 41-ball 39.
when the day’s final over began, Bairstow had 99. He failed to score from Cummins’s first three offerings, before connecting with the fourth — and acknowledging a crowd of more than 28,000 and, especially, his team-mates in the pavilion. the pleasure was mutual.
England have been through plenty out here, and not even australia’s fans were minded to begrudge them their moment.