Jonny Bairstow gave a peek into his mindset and the cultural difference Brendon McCulllum is already inspiring within the England Test dressing room after his game-changing ton on Day 2 of the third and final Test against New Zealand.
Walking in at 17 for 3, which soon became 55 for 6 with England still trailing New Zealand’s 329 all out by over 270 runs, Bairstow smashed a 95-ball century and stitched a game-changing stand of 209 with Jamie Overton, who added a critical 89 to the home team’s cause.
It was Bairstow’s second successive century of the series after his match-winning act on the final afternoon in Trent Bridge. At Leeds, he finished the day unbeaten with his game-transforming 130 off 126 balls, eating a significant portion of what was looming as a decisive first-innings lead for New Zealand at one point.
Planning the Kiwis’ downfall was one of their greatest sitting in the English camp, with coach McCullum telling Bairstow to replicate his feat from Nottingham and taking the game by the scruff of its neck.
“Fancy doing another Trent Bridge?’ was the first thing that we said. That was it: ‘OK, let’s crack on’. Sometimes it’s a simple game that we complicate. That’s all we’re trying to do: strip that complicated nature of it back, allow people to go out and express themselves in a way that will bring the best out of them as individuals and also as personalities,”
Bairstow told Sky Sports.
“The most important thing is me being me. Literally all Brendon [McCullum] has said is ‘go and impose yourself on the game’. It’s an exciting game and the way I’ve always played my cricket. I’ve gone back to young Jonny, where you’re just watching the ball and seeing the ball.”
Bairstow said his approach at the crease didn’t take him time to adjust to, as he himself has always been an attacking player who likes to take the game back to the opposition and force them to change their plans, with a more spread out field and less catching men around.
At Trent Bridge, he smashed his tremendous 136 off just 92 balls to help England sail through an unassailable 2-0 series lead, while at Leeds, Bairstow went at an eye-catching strike-rate of 103.17 when that may have been the last thing New Zealand would’ve expected to hit them.
But while the approach may seem personal, Bairstow said the role played behind the scenes by McCullum and Stokes has been “massive” in allowing players to take to the game with a clear mind and impose themselves on the opposition.
“It’s a buy-in from everyone, from the head coach right down to the guys making their debuts and coming into the squad.
Whether you’ve played 170 Tests like Jimmy [Anderson] or making your debut like Jamie Overton, everybody’s buying into a certain way that we believe we’re capable of doing – but also a way of Test cricket that is different to potentially the norm,”
he added.
