Jonny Bairstow will become the 17th England player to feature in 100 Test matches if he plays in the final two games of the series in India. It’s a significant achievement in a career that’s undergone several different eras.
The beginnings – in and out of the side
Bairstow came into Test cricket during a significant summer for a side who, 12 months before, had become the top-ranked team in the world. After Eoin Morgan was dropped prior to the 2011/12 winter and Ravi Bopara picked up a side strain that ruled him out of contention, Bairstow was called upon.
It was a rough initiation. Dropped after three Tests worth of low scores against the West Indies and struggles against Kemar Roach, he was given an opportunity after Kevin Pietersen was dropped for the final South Africa Test. The 95 runs he scored at Lord’s with Morne Morkel bouncers whistling around his ears were the first indication of the key theme that’s spanned Bairstow’s career. When backed into a corner, he rarely fails to respond.
Another half-century in the next innings secured him a place in the landmark 2012 tour of India. Although it was his only Test appearance in that series, he was substituted for Ian Bell while he was on maternity leave. He’s one of those players. Three British players on the current tour have won Test series medals in India. His next Test was played under similar circumstances, and he again replaced Pietersen in England’s final match of their tour to New Zealand.
Despite scoring two single-digit scores in that match, he sat both Tests when New Zealand toured England the following summer. His half-century for Leeds, along with Joe Root’s absence from the middle order, was enough to keep him eligible for the 2013 Summer Ashes. But when the series ended and the score was over 50, time ran out in the first stint. Although he remained for the trip to Down Under the following winter, he found himself no longer part of the starting eleven and only returned to the team once the result of the series became clear. Although his performance did not improve significantly, he won the big glove for the first time in the Melbourne Test and picked up important points. However, his 10, 21, 18, and 0 points in this series were enough to earn him his first notable departure from the team.
Jonny Bairstow hugs Stuart Broad during his Test debut at Lord’s in 2012
2015 Ashes & breakthrough in South Africa
By mid-summer 2015, Bairstow had scored over 900 runs in the County Championship and averaged over 100. With Gary Ballance looking increasingly unlikely, Bairstow also scored runs in the white-ball international format. This is not because he chooses to be exhausted. Having scored 74 in a memorable partnership with Root early in the crucial Nottingham Test series, he had another try at the Oval, scoring 13 and 26.
Nevertheless, he played in all three Test matches against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. His failure to score decisive triple figures throughout the innings was even worse, but the loss of Jos Buttler in the final Test of the series was also a key moment. This is the first time Bairstow has been given the gloves since the 2013-14 Ashes. Rumors of his ability behind the stumps continued after that, but they rightly topped his memorable innings at the Centurions.
While Stokes’ accomplishments on this day are recorded, it was Bairstow’s coming of age. It’s an outburst of all the emotion from the well-documented struggles in his life up to that point, a fervent gaze staring into the sky, a signature red bellows, and a bat celebrating 150 off 191 balls. It is clear from the swing up. The beginning of his first imperial period.
Jonny Bairstow celebrates his maiden Test century in Cape Town
England’s first-choice keeper
That innings in Cape Town began a three-year run in which Bairstow became one of the first names on the team sheet. From the beginning of 2016 to the end of 2017, he averaged 48.22 runs with four centuries. Only Root Cook and Alastair Cook scored more Test runs for England during this period. Bairstow was also the starting goalkeeper at this time. Even when Buttler returned to the team in the summer of 2018, Bairstow continued to glove up Buttler for most of the summer until his batting form declined.
It is also noteworthy that Bairstow’s role within the team was largely established at the height of this period. He mainly batted at number 6 or 7 to save wickets, but batting at number 5 from late 2016 to early 2017 led to a relative decrease in runs. He broke his finger at the Agas Bowl in the fourth Test of the 2018 India series and had to part with the gloves. This incident occurred in the middle of a 3-duck in the 4th inning. When the British came to Sri Lanka in the winter, Ben Fawkes also joined the fight.
Injuries, Covid and second coming
The worst period of Bairstow’s career began with one of his most memorable shots. After missing the first two Tests in Sri Lanka, with England’s beloved football warm-up interrupted by his ankle injury, he was promoted to No. 3 to return to the squad that includes Buttler and Foakes. Still convinced that he didn’t want to hang up his gloves for good, he celebrated his 6th Test hundred, his face red and his ears steaming. I roared towards the balcony, almost standing up. However, this innings was his last Test century for over two years.
Jonny Bairstow celebrates reach a century against Sri Lanka in 2018
The summer of 2019 began after a half-century for West Indies and a match against Ireland at Lord’s. Despite Butler’s presence, Bairstow retained his command and the gloves were returned. He maintained that status through the 2019 Ashes, but he only reached 50 once. It was a time when England’s Jason Roy was at the front of the batting line-up and the cupboard behind him was noticeably empty. The average number of ducks in Bairstow in 2019 was 18.55, with as many as 50 ducks. He lost both gloves to Butler on his next tour to New Zealand, and his spot to Ollie Pope. He briefly returned to South Africa to replace the ailing Pope, but produced two single-digit results. He was left out of the squad for the ill-fated trip to Sri Lanka.
2020 was the first time since 2012 that he did not play a Test in the calendar year, and despite losing his central contract at the end of the year, Corona and Butler’s last Test defeats still leave the door open for Bairstow’s return. It was meant to look like it was. He was called up to the 55-man training squad at the beginning of the pandemic and again when England needed a number three again in Sri Lanka. His return was not as spectacular as it was in Sri Lanka two years ago, and the subsequent India series ended with a disappointing three ducks in his first four innings.
In 2021 after the IPL, he was rested for two Test matches against New Zealand and returned for the series against India, but Foakes was absent due to injury and Pope only played in the final Test. Half a century later, he was used as a reserve batsman in that winter’s tour of Australia, when England had few other players of note to rely on.
Golden summer to date
Returning to the starting line-up for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, he began his development into 2022 with a century in Sydney. Another match followed in the final series of the Root era in Sydney before summer conquered all summer. Bairstow was at the helm at the beginning of the Bulldozer era of Buzzball. He scored 394 runs from 328 balls in three Tests against New Zealand, and no player has ever scored more runs in a series. What is even more remarkable is that by the midpoint of the series, he had only scored his 25 of those runs.
He then completed a double hundred against India, setting a record as the only player to score six Test centuries in a calendar year while playing below No. 5. He probably saw it better than anyone ever, so it was a shame he didn’t see the golf ball spilling after another phenomenal box office success against South Africa. When Harry Brook returned to the sidelines, he took over from where Bairstow left off, but Bairstow’s still vivid memories of that summer were enough to convince him to take back the gloves from The Forks in the summer of 2023. It was>. His decent performances against Australia (78 at Edgbaston, 99 at Old Trafford and 78 at the Oval) kept that feeling alive.
The color is starting to fade against India, who are yet to score over 40 in any of the three Tests of the series. But it should take at least two more games before he’s completely used up — if that ever happens. If we’ve learned anything from Bairstow’s career, it comes back just when you think it’s over.
Jonny Bairstow celebrates his century during the second Test against New Zealand in 2022
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