Jonny Bairstow: England need to be "stronger and tougher"

The England batter knows his side must perform better with the bat in the second innings but doesn't believe they are out of contention despite failing to reach 200 in an innings for the third time this series

Jonny Bairstow has admitted England need to be "stronger and tougher" if they are to have any chance of saving the third Test in Melbourne.

England, two down in the series and needing to win all three remaining Tests if they are to regain the Ashes, were bowled out for just 185 on the first day. It is the third time in the series they have failed to reach 200 in an innings.

But while Bairstow, who made 35, felt England had been unfortunate to lose the toss and be inserted in conditions offering some assistance to seamers, he did acknowledge that they would have to perform better in the second innings.

"We've got to get a bit stronger and tougher with our dismissals," Bairstow said. "We know that and we've spoken about that. That is just being honest with ourselves.

"We saw in the second innings at Adelaide that we could bat for a period of time and put a lot on each of our wickets. When it comes round to the second innings here that's exactly what we have to do.

^{Bairstow saw Malan's dismissal on the stroke of lunch as a turning point [Robert Cianflone/Getty Images]}

"When you look at the toss it didn't go our way. We'd have looked to bowl as well. Yes, we lost a couple of wickets in the morning but the partnership between Dawid Malan and Joe Root was really good again so naturally it was disappointing to lose Dawid on the stroke of lunch.

"We're still searching for that big score but you could see both teams looking to bowl on that pitch with the help of conditions and a tinge of green."

Perhaps the most disappointing dismissal was that of Jos Buttler. He was caught at deep mid-wicket the over before tea attempting to hit the off-spin of Nathan Lyon over the top. But Bairstow defended the shot, suggesting it was part of the game place to "put the pressure back on" the bowler.

"That’s an individual decision," Bairstow said. "If that’s the game plan to take the off-spinner down and put the pressure back on, to push the field back, then that’s the game plan that was taken.

"I don’t think that you can complain when it’s obviously individuals going out and playing in the way in which they foresee is the best way. Naturally the execution wasn’t there today. But the amount of times that we’ve seen those shots going to the boundary is high.

"It’s one of those days that they and we will look back on and probably reassess next time and potentially take different options."

Despite the disappointing start, Bairstow insisted England were "still in the game" on a surface which is predicted to provide some help for seamers throughout. He also felt there were signs of uneven bounce on the first evening.

^{Jos Buttler batting [Quinn Rooney/Getty Images] and after being dismissed [Robert Cianflone/Getty Images]}

"We’re still in the game because of the change of the way this pitch is with more grass on it," he said. "We’re still in the game until that last ball is bowled.

"That wicket is still doing something. We’ve seen in the evening session that people were hit on the gloves and also a few balls have kept low. So we’ll come back in the morning really pumped and ready to make a difference in this game.

"We're bowling on the same pitch they bowled on. We saw this evening that David Warner came out and played some shots and applied pressure back on our bowlers. We've seen the pitch offer plenty throughout the day.

"We've got one end potentially open with a nightwatchman and we'll look to put pressure on Marcus Harris and the nightwatchman to get some early inroads.

"The groundsman expects it to do a bit all game which will keep us in it all the way through. We’ll come back in the morning and look to take some early wickets to put us back on the front foot."