England cricket team’s stylish right handed batter Jonny Bairstow has had a forgettable Test Series against India. Jonny Bairstow has got into the shell by not playing his natural attacking game which has hurt England team a lot. The batter though is on the cusp of playing 100 Test matches for England which is quite a milestone in the ever changing landscape of cricket.
England skipper Ben Stokes’ inability to bowl has put a lot of pressure & burden on the veteran fast bowler James Anderson. Many would argue that James Anderson still has the zeal but ECB and the management need to think of the future as well. Anderson is on the verge of taking his 700th Test wicket and it won’t be wrong to say that he is setting a massive example for the next crop of players.
Jonny Bairstow’s gameplan is totally unselfish- David Lloyd
David Lloyd wrote in his column for Daily Mail and heaped praise on the wicket-keeper right handed batter Jonny Bairstow. David Lloyd pointed out that Jonny Bairstow is one of the greatest wicket-keeper batters and compared him with the legendary wicket keepers: Adam Gilchrist, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kumar Sangakkara, Brendon McCullum & Matt Prior as well.
“With an average of 36 and a strike rate of 59, he is someone who influences outcomes. Those numbers are close to ideal for a wicketkeeper. To critics of his glovework, I ask you: was Adam Gilchrist the best wicketkeeper in Australia when he played Test cricket? Was Mahendra Singh Dhoni the best in India? Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara? Our own Matt Prior? Brendon McCullum of New Zealand?,”
“No, and in each case their worth to the team in front of the stumps outweighed whatever they did behind them. Ditto Bairstow’s worth to England, and he really comes into his own joining an existing batter in the middle or being left with the tail,” he stated.
“Never doubted he was a player who was going to make it. Why? Because of his style: totally unselfish, with an ability to change the game. It is so important in Tests to put pressure back on the opposition. Having been an international coach, I can tell you that his name will feature on the whiteboard in the opposition dressing room, because he can really hurt you with the speed of his scoring,” he added.
Disappointing Series for England
We must acknowledge the fact that the Britishers weren’t at their best even with a brilliant batting line-up consisting of Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow & Ben Stokes. There were huge hopes from Joe Root but the batter apart from his ton in the 4th Test match didn’t capitalize on the starts which made England’s middle order fragile.
England needs to go back to the drawing board and rethink the ‘Bazball’ ideology as Test Cricket is not all about Entertainment. All eyes will be on Ben Stokes who would be keen to finish on a high note and his captaincy also has been quite superb but the sudden injury to Jack Leach made their spin attack quite weak.