Bairstow: A Redhead Who Lives Off His Fiery Nature

After his two centuries this week, Derek Pringle believes Jonny Bairstow needs to be fired up both on and off the pitch to be at his absolute best

Whether it was his public spat with former Yorkshire team-mate, Michael Vaughan, or the reassuring sight of his swashbuckling buddy, Jason Roy, at the other end, something sparked Jonny Bairstow into scoring back-to-back hundreds in England’s most important games of the World Cup so far.

A feisty redhead, Bairstow made it plain that he considered some of the criticism following England’s two defeats, to Sri Lanka and Australia, unhelpful to the cause. It made him sound paranoid, yet like Glenn McGrath, the great Australian bowler, Bairstow probably sensed he needed to give himself a jolt. So he picked a verbal fight in the media with Vaughan to gee himself up, which was really McGrath’s goal whenever he sledged a batsman.

Of course Bairstow didn’t know at that stage if Roy would be fit again, following a hamstring tweak. But when he was, for the game against India, and showing clear signs of having missed the fray, the old symbiosis was restored, with Roy smashing anything full or wide and Bairstow despatching anything short and too straight. The outcome, two century stands were posted in double quick time and England won both games without a chewed finger nail in sight.

Even so, Bairstow’s knocks were exceptional. To make successive hundreds is a fine achievement at any time but to produce them in two must-win games, makes them very special indeed. Two in two was also a feat unprecedented in World Cups, at least by an England player, another superlative then given the high tempo, and therefore high risk, at which both innings were played.