England have yet to see the best of spinner Rashid, believes Bairstow
JONNY BAIRSTOW believes the best is yet to come from Adil Rashid.
“That’s the exciting bit,” said the Yorkshire and England wicketkeeper following Rashid’s return to Test cricket.
“I think that previously there may have been a lot of pressure that was put on him through different avenues. But, at the moment, his mindset is very much to continue the way that he’s been bowling in oneday cricket, which has been absolutely fantastic.
“If he does that and bowls the lines and lengths that come with the art of leg-spin, and his confidence starts building in red-ball cricket as it has done in white-ball cricket, then you’ll see a completely different bowler and someone who can potentially take lots and lots of wickets for England.”
Bairstow’s support for his county and international teammate follows Rashid’s decision to play red-ball once more for his country.
The leg-spinner has played in the first two Tests against India and although he did not bat or bowl in the last match at Lord’s, he took three wickets in the 31run win at Edgbaston, where he once more showed his trademark skill for tying up the tail.
“To have him in your armoury as a captain, if the opposition is six-down for instance, is brilliant,” added Bairstow.
“If you’ve got a wrist-spinner that can come on and turn the ball both ways and cause havoc, especially for the lower order, then that, coupled with his batting – he’s got 10 first-class hundreds and the capabilities of players like Chris Woakes and Sam Curran around him – is a really positive move for the team.
“He’s been really good around the whole group since his return, and he’s a great bloke to have around.
“He’s a very much valued member of the squad and his football is improving every week.”
Expanding on Woakes, with whom he shared an outstanding sixth-wicket stand of 189 at Lord’s as Woakes recorded his maiden Test hundred, Bairstow, who scored 93 himself in yet another classy performance, said: “There was some wally at the other end that fell seven short (of a hundred), but I was absolutely delighted to be out there for his maiden one because I know how much it meant to him.
“Everyone that plays with Chris day-in, day-out knows the skills that he’s got, and he put us into a position where we were able to put pressure on in the third innings.”
JONNY BAIRSTOW has banished thoughts of whitewashing India as he insisted that England must first of all focus on winning the five-Test series.
England go into the third Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday 2-0 up after victories at Edgbaston and Lord’s.
It left captain Joe Root admitting that it “would be the dream to put in five complete performances and have five wins”.
But Root made clear that “it’s important we don’t get complacent, arrogant or look too far ahead”, comments very much echoed by his Yorkshire and England team-mate.
“There’s still three big Test matches to go,” said Bairstow. “You can’t say that it’s going to be that (5-0).
“Another week or two of hot weather, and all of a sudden the pitch, say, down in Southampton (for the fourth Test) changes. The pitch at the Oval (for the fifth Test) we know can get quite dry and turn, so there’s three-anda-bit weeks until we finish the series and there’s a lot of cricket we’ve got ahead.
“I don’t think you can look at those kind of scorelines. We’re not even close to winning the series yet.”
Bairstow’s level-headed approach stems not only from a recognition of the capricious nature of sport, but also the fact that India are the world’s No 1-ranked team – one capable, despite their pummelling at headquarters, of fighting their way back.
Asked whether the tourists are vulnerable, the 28-year-old insisted: “I don’t think they’re vulnerable. I think they’re world No 1 for a reason. You’ve just got to look at the quality they’ve got in their side.
“I think we’ve exploited the conditions well and put the ball in the right areas and exposed a couple of areas that we looked to target before the series started.
“But there’s a lot of dangers that come with their top five or six batsmen, so we can’t just take our foot off the pedal.
“You look at Pujara, for instance. I think he’s got five triple hundreds in first-class cricket, 15 hundreds in Test cricket, and that’s only one bloke. You’ve got Kohli, Rohane, and everyone that comes around them as well.
“At the same time, we’ve played well and we’re 2-0 up against the No 1 team.
“I think the way we’ve gone about it has been the most pleasing thing, the way we’ve played our cricket.”
He added: “The conditions in the last Test match were quite kind to us, which helped naturally, like when you go to India and they win the toss and bat first and all of a sudden conditions are against you as a team, but it sometimes happens that way.”
Following a turbulent winter in which they lost in Australia and New Zealand, England have now won three Tests on the bounce.
It has been a stirring turnaround by Bairstow and co.
“It was a blooming tough winter,” he said.
“We came up against an Australian side that had three guys that were bowling at 90mph consistently that were at the top of their game and exploited our weaknesses.
“When you’ve got guys that are bowling consistently and as ferociously as they did, and cleaning up the tail like they did, it’s tough.
“That, combined with the fact that when they got a couple of men in they went massive and got a huge amount of runs, and the fact that there were a couple of decisions that didn’t necessarily go our way, it’s difficult.
“But, at the end of the day, they played better than us.
“Then, when we went to New Zealand, the spell from Trent Boult – sometimes you’ve just got to doff your cap, like you do to Broady (Stuart Broad) and Jimmy (James Anderson).
“Sometimes you’re on the end of a good spell and you can’t do much about it.
“Unfortunately, this winter, we were on the end of a few good spells and we weren’t able to combat that, but we’ve come back to England fresh, excited and raring to go for the challenges ahead.”
We’re not even close to winning the series yet. Jonny Bairstow, England star assesses their five-Test series against India.
Jonny Bairstow was launching the Hardys Heartbeat of the Club. Nominate your club’s heartbeat at Hardywines.com/ winthehardyspavilion