In an attempt to break out of his international exile, Jonny Bairstow feels it would be foolish to not push for an England return this summer and is aiming for huge runs for Yorkshire.
It will be precisely nine months on Thursday since Bairstow last wore an England shirt, in the team’s loss to India in the T20 World Cup semifinals. After a 4-1 tour of India, in which Bairstow gained his 100th cap in the fifth and final Test at Dharamshala, he was dismissed outright from the Test team as part of a red-ball team overhaul that summer.
Since then, whenever a wicketkeeper-batter opportunity has presented itself, England has passed on Jonny Bairstow.
Although Jamie Smith began the 2024 Test season with the gloves, Jordan Cox of Essex was added to the squad since he had to miss the New Zealand tour due to the birth of his first child. Durham’s Ollie Robinson was selected as a replacement for Cox after he broke his thumb prior to the first Test, but Ollie Pope remained throughout the series.
In the Champions Trophy, Smith took Phil Salt’s place behind the stumps for the limited-overs formats. When former white-ball captain Jos Buttler decided to quit keeping, Salt himself had stepped forward to fill the position.
Because Jonny Bairstow is still bound by an ECB central contract that doesn’t expire until this October, his circumstances are particularly complex. Speaking at Headingley during Yorkshire’s preseason media day, the 35-year-old insisted that a comeback is not out of the question but declined to discuss if he had heard back from men’s managing director Rob Key or head coach Brendon McCullum.
Jonny Bairstow responded, “Yes, because I’m still contracted,” when asked if a recall was still feasible. I would be foolish not to. The task for the entire team will be to try to play for England, which is the ultimate goal of everything. Everyone wants to proceed and carry out that action.
“There’s no doubt that you want to return to it as a ‘exile’ who hasn’t played for however long. And scoring runs is how you do that.
“It’s not my fault that I was offered a two-year contract to remain on the outside. I was doing everything I could to prepare for the season with Yorkshire, including going on preseason games, starting the summer with Yorkshire, presenting myself well to the lads in the dressing room, and determining what would work best for the team as a whole. I have no influence over that part at all.
I don’t have a choice. I won’t be the one firing the gun, but I can load it. We’ll wait to find out.”
Jonny Bairstow played a key role in the incredible summer of 2022 that saw the start of the Bazball initiative under McCullum and Ben Stokes, the recently appointed Test captain. His unshakeable optimism with the bat was fuelled by his four hundreds in five innings, including twin hundreds against India at Headingley.
The only thing that ended the scorching run was a terrible broken leg, which kept Jonny Bairstow out until the 2023 season, when he made a comeback for the Ashes. In addition to being excluded from the last Test match against South Africa that summer, as well as from the tours of Pakistan and New Zealand, he was also denied the chance to win a second world championship when England won the T20 World Cup in 2022. As one of the most effective ODI openers in the history of the format, he had previously played a key role in 2019’s 50-over triumph.
After hearing that he was excluded because of a string of poor grades, Jonny Bairstow thinks he has the ability to change that perception. And he believes his record against both opponents should help him in the summer as India tours for five Test matches, followed by an Ashes in the winter. In particular, he had a hundred on each of his previous two Australian visits.
Regarding the first discussion after his axing, he stated, “It was just mentioned around form, really,” “Obviously, that depends on people’s opinions and other factors, and that’s okay.
With India and Australia on the horizon, this summer is undoubtedly going to be busy. During the last two journeys to Australia, I have had good numbers versus those two teams, particularly in England and Australia. I wasn’t that horrible the last time India was here to tour. We will wait and observe the situation.
“My primary responsibility is to focus on Yorkshire and ensuring that the year starts off well. I’ll let everything else work itself out.”
Following the club’s promotion to Division One, Jonny Bairstow will start the season for Yorkshire. Joe Root and Harry Brook are expected to participate in some of the Championship’s first six matches before the summer’s first Test match against Zimbabwe on May 22.
The Daily Mail said earlier this week that Jonny Bairstow will be given the red-ball leadership of Yorkshire, replacing Shan Masood, who held the position for two years before relocating to Leicestershire.
Since last summer, Jonny Bairstow and the club have been in constant communication regarding the captaincy. With the season starting next week, Yorkshire has delayed announcing his hiring, reportedly due to his possible involvement in the IPL and subsequently PSL. From 1984 to 1986, Bairstow’s late father, David, captained the county.
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