BAIRSTOW FELT 'STITCHED UP' BY HEADBUTT EPISODE

England wicketkeeper has written about his experiences on the Ashes tour

Jonny Bairstow feels he was "stitched up" by the media fall-out to the 'headbutt' that never happened.

Reports during the first Ashes Test in Brisbane last month claimed Bairstow and Cameron Bancroft's heads "had met" during a night out in Perth during the first week of England's tour Down Under.

Comments made in the middle by the Australian team about the incident had been picked up by a stump microphone and Bairstow soon found himself at the centre of a storm, which he says was just an attempt to get under his skin.

Writing about the series of events in his Daily Mail column, the England wicketkeeper described the affair as "boys being boys".

"A headbutt, to me, is something that has malicious intent. And that's certainly not what happened between me and Cameron Bancroft when we met at the very start of the tour. The reality is that it was nothing," he wrote.

"Our security were there and happy nothing happened. Sorry, if I had headbutted someone I think they would have known all about it and damage would have been done. How can I describe it? Boys being boys, I guess. But there was minimal contact, I can tell you that."

^{Jonny Bairstow felt "stitched up" by the headbutt claims Down Under}

The Aussie media jumped on the story but Bairstow says he understood from the off that it was a ploy to unsettle him.

"Did I feel as if I had been stitched up? Yes I did in many ways, but at the same time I honestly never thought of it as anything to worry about. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong and, more importantly, the team and management knew that too," he wrote.

"Australia, as they have admitted, were trying to use it to get under my skin. Realising what they were doing was important. I never said a thing back to them."

As for reports that Australia's sledging has become unpleasant, Bairstow would not divulge exactly what had been said to him at the crease.

"Some other things, apart from the 'headbutt' business, were said by Australia in the middle but what they were is staying there," he wrote. "We move on. Hopefully it's gone now. I'm not making an issue of it.

"Only if they are said again would the matter go further. We just need to get on with trying to get back in this series."

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