“My 100th Test Cap is for my mother, my mum is the embodiment of strength – she worked three jobs & had two kids that were under 10 at a difficult time – She had cancer twice, she is a bloody strong woman to get through that twice,” an emotional Jonny Bairstow said to the Daily Telegraph.
There is a heartbreaking story to share from Bairstow’s childhood days. It is January 1998, and you’re flipping through the column written by Ted Corbett, the former English journalist. The column is mostly about David Bairstow, Jonny’s father, taking his own life.
There is also a cruel twist attached to the tragedy as David passed away just a day before his wife’s birthday. The strong-willed Janet, who was then suffering from cancer, took the tragedy in her stride. Bairstow later noted: “Mum sent us (Jonny and his sister Rebecca) to school that day as if saying: ‘Right, OK, we’ve got to deal with it, carry on.’ The only thing I can’t really remember is walking into school that day.”
Just a peek into Bairstow’s career, and he seems to have inherited some of his mother’s deep reservoirs of willpower. For Bairstow, it all started in 2012. That was the year he earned his maiden Test cap from the Yorkshire legend, Geoffrey Boycott. Unfortunately for Bairstow, he could only eke out 38 runs in his first Test series against the West Indies and was soon dropped. The critics were already questioning his ability to play the short ball after he was troubled by Kemar Roach. His strong bottom-hand grip also seemed to be taking over, as his head kept falling across while playing the incoming delivery.
A couple of months later, he was given a lifeline as he replaced Kevin Pietersen, who in turn had fallen prey to the infamous Textgate. In the final Test of the series against South Africa, Bairstow helped England recover from a precarious position with a tenacious knock of 95. He followed it up with a fifty in the second dig. Although England ended up losing the Test and the series, Bairstow seemed to have silenced his inner demons for the moment.
Now, fast-forward to the 2013-14 Ashes, and you wondered whether his performance against a formidable South African attack was akin to an oasis in the desert. England had just hurtled to an ignominious 0-5 loss in Australia. At the completion of that five-match rubber, Bairstow averaged 28.75 in 13 Tests, and was yet to score a Test hundred.
His only opportunity to etch his name into the country ‘s consciousness during that Ashes came at the MCG. In the second innings, Bairstow and Pietersen were threatening to take England to a position of strength. And just like that, Bairstow lost his concentration as he tamely poked at a harmless outside-off-stump delivery from Mitchell Johnson. Subsequently, England collapsed in a heap and hurtled to one more embarrassing defeat Down Under.
It took two more years and 36 innings for Bairstow to crack the code and bring up his maiden Test ton. As Bairstow reached the landmark, he let all his emotions out with a massive roar. To make it even better, his mother and sister were in the stands, clapping his sterling effort. Bairstow went on to establish himself as a Test regular. Although Jos Buttler took over the wicketkeeping duties, Bairstow had become one of the mainstays of the batting unit.
By 2018, all those ladders had disappeared, and only snakes seemed to be lurking in Bairstow’s path. He had an extended barren run and was duly shown the exit door after the tour of South Africa in 2019-20. By the fag end of that year, Bairstow had made yet another comeback. Just that there were still question marks over his place. To exemplify the point further, before the commencement of the Ashes in 2021-22, Bairstow had accumulated 4381 runs at an average of 33.70. Not exactly earth-shattering numbers. But the details of the next chapter in Bairstow’s Test career will perhaps echo for generations.
At the SCG, in the Ashes, it was Bairstow’s hundred that ensured England wouldn’t slip to a 5-0 whitewash Down Under. After the culmination of that disappointing Ashes campaign, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as the captain and coach respectively. Under the new regime, Bairstow suddenly transformed himself into a destroyer of attacks.
During the English summer of 2022, he accumulated 681 runs at a stunning average of 75.66 and at a strike rate of 96.59. In the Edgbaston Test against India, he cracked a hundred in each innings. In the first innings, he was beaten on numerous occasions while facing up to the formidable Indian pace attack. He was also sledged by Virat Kohli. Bairstow responded to that with a blazing hundred. In the second innings, he and Joe Root strung together a memorable 269-run stand to script a jailbreak as England chased down the target of 378 for the loss of a mere three wickets.
Bairstow’s golden period didn’t last long as he was laid low by a freak injury while playing golf. He dislocated his ankle and broke his leg in three different places. Just like before, Bairstow negotiated one more setback while convalescing from the injury. He even had a fine run in the Ashes at home, averaging just over 40. But that was followed by a rather ordinary campaign in the 50-over World Cup and modest returns in the ongoing Test series in India.
As Bairstow gears up to play his 100th Test at the picturesque Dharamsala stadium, the knives have again sharpened. Harry Brook is set to return for the English summer and could very well take Bairstow’s place in the batting order. At nearly 35, Bairstow is no spring chicken either. Despite all the doomsday predictions, there is still a ray of hope that he would return to form and chisel out a new path. After all, he is a typical Yorkie with guts and unremitting self-belief.
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