Jonny Bairstow credits England success to freedom and Brendon McCullum

The 32-year-old has been one of the standout performers under McCullum, scoring four centuries in his past five innings

Jonny Bairstow has attributed England’s recent success to the freedom of playing without Covid restrictions and the clarity of Brendon McCullum’s coaching and approach to Test cricket.

The 32-year-old has been one of the standout performers under McCullum, scoring four centuries in his past five innings, and England have won all four Tests to date under the New Zealander’s guidance.

Speaking on the Tailenders podcast, Bairstow said: "It's the freedom we have now. We're not in hotel rooms, bubbles, having to do Covid tests every day and we can do normal things like go to the shop, go for a beer, see your friends and family.

^{Brendon McCullum and Jonny Bairstow [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]}

"All of those things accumulate together and obviously the excitement of working with Baz [McCullum] and the clarity he gave everyone.

"Before we played New Zealand, there was chat about going to the IPL and not playing county cricket but Baz phoned me, said I was batting five in the Tests, to get my head around it and crack on.

"Baz also spoke to me a bit about imposing myself on the game - nothing technical. That can be tricky in red-ball cricket because you don't want to look like you're slogging.

"I had two nets before the first game so finding the balance was interesting. I played a shot-a-ball at Lord's [scoring one and 16] which didn't go down too well and then found the balance better at Trent Bridge [scoring 136]."

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