England’s Jonny Bairstow is having a great time with the bat in Test cricket lately. The right-hander hit a couple of countries in England’s 3-0 whitewash over New Zealand last month while he slammed twin tons in the rescheduled fifth Test against India at Edgbaston.
Speaking on the Tailenders podcast, Bairstow credited freedom from COVID-19 protocols and role clarity under new head coach Brendon McCullum for his sensational run of form.
"It's the freedom we have now. We're not in hotel rooms, bubbles, having to do Covid tests everyday and we can do normal things like go to the shop, go for a beer, see your friends and family," Bairstow said.
"All of those things accumulate together and obviously the excitement of working with Baz (McCullum) and the clarity he gave everyone," he added.
Bairstow missed the start of the county season this summer as he was featuring in the Indian Premier League. However, McCullum told him that he is a certain starter in Test XI.
"Before we played New Zealand, there was chat about going to the IPL and not playing county cricket but Baz phoned me, said I was batting five in the Tests, to get my head around it and crack on," Bairstow said.
"Baz also spoke to me a bit about imposing myself on the game - nothing technical. That can be tricky in red-ball cricket because you don't want to look like you're slogging.
"I had two nets before the first game so finding the balance was interesting. I played a shot-a-ball at Lord's (scoring one and 16) which didn't go down too well and then found the balance better at Trent Bridge (scoring 136)."
In the same podcast, veteran England pacer James Anderson revealed Bairstow was determined to score a century in the first innings against India at Edgbaston after being sledged by Virat Kohli.
"Jonny was 80 not out and Virat had been going at him and sledging him a lot," said Anderson.
"I don't know if you saw the strike-rate difference? His strike-rate was about 20 before Virat started sledging him and about 150 after."
Bairstow was struggling in the morning session on Day 3, having scored 13 off 61 balls and survived a few close calls. However, it all changed after Kohli triggered him by sledging.
The two players had an altercation in the middle before the England batter took on the Indian bowlers to smash 93 off his next 79 balls.
"His (Bairstow's) first words back in the dressing room at lunch were: 'When will they learn to shut it?' If there's somebody you don't want to rub up the wrong way, it is Jonny Bairstow," said Anderson.
(With PTI inputs)
