Jonny Bairstow is back for England in Test cricket for the first time since England’s Ashes whitewash and in Yorkshire they will tell you he is much improved after an 18-month lay-off
David Hopps21-Jul-2015It is a very different Jonny Bairstow who will resume his England Test career with the Ashes series in the balance. This is not to claim that he will automatically be the answer to England’s needs because prolific form in county cricket can only prove too much, but he is a much superior version of the batsman who was part of England’s whitewashed side in Australia 18 months ago.Then Bairstow was unsuccessfully drafted in for the last two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney after an extended time – a destructive period of enforced inactivity, indeed – running 12th-man duties. County cricket might have its limitations, but it is a better finishing school than months on end ferrying drinks and towels, otherwise England might as well develop its young players as poolside waiters.Bairstow has been picked for Edgbaston ahead of his Yorkshire team-mate Gary Ballance after averaging more than 100 in first-class cricket this season, a sequence that has included five centuries; Ballance heads back to Yorkshire after making 134 in eight innings, an initially productive batsman who seems to have been found out. Always assertive, Bairstow now looks a more compact, more secure player; Ballance looks in need of reassessment.At a time when Yorkshire are providing so many England players, batsmen in particular, the county’s own sense of the pecking order is intriguing. At the start of the season, Joe Root was the golden child, with Bairstow, Ballance, Adam Lyth and Alex Lees (still uncapped) all possessing their admirers. Root remains exalted, but Bairstow now has new street-cred, the popular deputy as far as admiration is concerned. As for Lees, he has enough issues with a lean run in county cricket to think of England.It is often easier to build a reputation outside a side than in it, certainly when Australia are in town. For all that, many good judges who have observed Bairstow for Yorkshire this season have sensed a new maturity. Some have even suggested, as they did with Root before him, that he is in such prime form that on occasions he has looked “too good” for county cricket.He has been frustrated at the way he was jettisoned completely after the Ashes series, but for the most part he has channelled that frustration into a search for higher standards. He has remained placid on the surface, apart from the occasional meaningful century celebration. Just don’t ask him if he still hits across it or he will fell you with one glance. He doesn’t – at least no more than most.There is a belief that the growth shown in one-day cricket when his unbeaten 83 led England to a series-winning victory against New Zealand in Chester-le-Street can spread into the wider formats. There has always been dispute about which form of game most suits Jonny Bairstow. Perhaps the answer is all of them.”I am very pleased to have been called up,” Bairstow said. “Consistency-wise I think I am in my best form and striking the ball well and hopefully this will continue. Playing international cricket is a great challenge but that is why we play the game. If you don’t challenge yourself you will never find anything out about yourself.”I have been very positive at the crease this season and will try and take that into the Ashes series. You cannot say how you will play until you are there but I will certainly relish the challenge.”Bairstow has not just matured as a batsman, he has matured as a person. Such an observation is often a cliché, trotted out by anybody who reaches their mid-20s. But for Bairstow the impression seems particularly appropriate.He has not been the most comfortable mixer in the demanding social pressure cooker of the average cricket dressing room. There can be a reticence and singularity about him that has not always been easy to digest.But his public face as he has grown as a batsman has been increasingly impressive. He had warm words for Ballance, referring to the “heck of a lot of runs” with which he began his England career. As Bairstow now turns his attentions to England, Ballance must commit himself to defending a Championship title. A period of disenchantment will not be acceptable.Bairstow also appealed after his latest century – an utterly secure and dominating affair against Worcestershire at Scarborough this week – for England supporters not to lose faith after one bad Test, not with the series tied at 1-1 and all to play for. It was emotionally wise and it was professionally wise, too. When you have been recalled at bat at No. 5 for England, and have a penchant for attack, it is a whole lot easier if you are not coming in – as Root has often found himself doing – at roughly 50 for 3.He sounds, in essence, a model team man. Jason Gillespie and Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s senior coaches, deserve some credit for that.The England career of David Bairstow, Jonny’s late father, suffered a setback when Paul Downton, a wicketkeeper-batsman of more discreet talents, was preferred. “Bluey’s” analysis of his rejection could be on the tempestuous side. By a historical quirk, nothing more, Jonny Bairstow also lost his place when Downton assumed command as England’s director of cricket after the Ashes whitewash.But Downton was sacked barely a year later. Jonny Bairstow, within a few months, is back. It is funny how life works out.