Jonny Bairstow is looking forward to England's "new journey" which will begin this week against New Zealand at Lord's. He returned from his brief tenure with Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 last week and is yet to play any red-ball cricket this season.

However, the wicketkeeper-batter immediately joined Ben Stokes' side ahead of the first Test on Thursday (June 2).

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He is eager to get a feel for England's new regime, which includes new Test captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. 

"I don't want a rest. I've never been one for resting when there's opportunities to play for England," Bairstow told reporters on Monday.

The 32-year-old said that playing for his country has always been his goal, and that Lord's Cricket Ground is a "fantastic" place to begin the new odyssey.

"It is extremely special and that has always been my goal, to play for England as long as I can. Lord's is a fantastic place for us to be to start the new journey, it all begins on Thursday and it should be great fun. It's exciting."

Jonny Bairstow was an integral part of the white-ball transition and is excited to be a part of McCullum's red-ball makeover. He further revealed that he looks up to the cricketer-turned coach in more ways than one.

"Brendon is someone I've always wanted to work with. He's someone I've played against and grown up watching and was very intrigued by," he said.

"He's someone I've looked up to in many ways for the way he went about his cricket. I'm really excited about the prospect of hopefully working with him for a long period of time.

"The experience he has got, playing all those games for New Zealand and his coaching experience he's got, he can bring that to the guys.

"I'm sure there'll be things that rub off within the environment within the next weeks, months, and years. There's a lot of positivity around the group, first and foremost."

(Agence France-Presse Inputs)