Jonny Bairstow’s Successful Red-Ball Reset: 2022

England came into the tour looking to change their red-ball fortunes, and made some strong statements in their selection. They dropped their two best bowlers in James Anderson and Stuart Broad, picked younger and faster bowlers, and also went with younger openers. With new players in the team, Jonny Bairstow joined Ben Stokes and Joe Root as senior members in the side. Bairstow though, was only a Test in after making a brilliant comeback in Sydney.

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In 2016, Jonny Bairstow was a beast in Test Cricket. He had a controversial inception into the format with his name doing the rounds while the Kevin Pietersen saga unfolded. Despite the saga, Bairstow came up nicely and had some brilliant years, with his 2016 season the cherry on the cake. He made 1470 runs, was keeping wickets, and chipped in with key runs lower down the order through the year.

2016 was the year England started their white-ball reset, and that led to a downfall in Jonny Bairstow in Test Cricket. He was wonderful with the lower order, but the shift in focus saw him miss Tests and go in and out of the side. He lost the gloves as well, and had a string of ducks recently, making it tough for him in Test Cricket.

With the focus on white-ball Cricket, 2018 became a career changing year for Jonny Bairstow. He made four centuries in early 2018 and put himself in contention for the World Cup, and this led to him falling out of England’s Test plans. He was still a part of the side, but was no longer the first name on the list. Come to 2022, and Jonny Bairstow is finally living up to the early bar set by him.

In two Tests since his last break, Jonny Bairstow made two centuries, and looks threatening now. Before he seemed a walking wicket, but sides are starting to pick him out as a player who can take the game away from him. His century is Sydney was world-class, as it was England’s only Ashes century, and one that came with the batting line-up in shambles. In the second innings, Australia were on the edge of their seats while he was out there playing for a thrilling draw.

With England looking at a big red-ball overhaul, they turned to Jonny Bairstow as one of the senior members in the side. In the first Test, the red-ball reset didn’t start well for England. They lost wickets in the first session and the batting line-up seemed to have stayed the same from the Ashes. Jonny Bairstow though, continued a red-ball reset of his own. He batted through the innings, built partnerships and batted nicely with the lower order to get his second century in two games.

After years of frustrating ducks an no scores, Jonny Bairstow finally seems to have put up a show. His technique, which suffered in 2017, seems to be better and as a batter he is more aggressive but collected than what he was back in 2017. He is already England’s most important ODI batter, and stepped up brilliantly in the 2019 World Cup when England’s campaign was in trouble. Now with the Test team in shambles, Jonny Bairstow is stepping up again, and looking to become England’s most important batter across formats.

As a batter, Jonny Bairstow has batted everywhere in the England batting line-up. He has taken the gloves, and now with Anderson and Broad dropped, after 81 Tests, at the age of 32, Jonny Bairstow is finally seen as a senior member in the team. He as been around for a long time, Bairstow will be looking to build on the early potential shown in his Test career.