Bairstow raves about England's 'exciting' middle order: There are game-changers all the way through

HUW TURBERVILL: Jonny Bairstow, 28, is delighted to be batting at No.5, although his Test average is actually not quite so good there. In 19 innings he averages 30, as opposed to 42 in 32 innings at No.6 and 42 in 35 at No.7.

^{England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow}

Jonny Bairstow believes England’s new-look middle-order can silence talk of Test cricket being boring.

IPL slayer Jos Buttler has been restored at No.7 for the first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s, starting next Thursday, the 29-year-old being given another chance to convert all that white-ball firepower into red-ball runs.

He has a Test strike-rate of 55 from his 18 matches, and will follow Ben Stokes (61) at No.6, and Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root (both 55) at Nos.5 and 4 respectively.

“It is a really exciting line-up,” said Bairstow at the launch of England’s 2018 kit, made by New Balance. “There are game-changers all the way through the line-up. If we bat for a day and all of a sudden we are five down next morning and you have Jos and Stokesey walking out to bat… if you are a tired bowler you are going to get punished at some point. That is the nature of the people we have in the side. They can change the game in an hour or a session – with the bat or with the ball. We will relish being able to play the game we want to play.”

Bairstow, 28, is delighted to be batting at No.5, although his Test average is actually not quite so good there. In 19 innings he averages 30, as opposed to 42 in 32 innings at No.6 and 42 in 35 at No.7. “I thrive on the responsibility of being No.5,” he says. “I like to think I have taken on the challenges in the past, taken them in my stride.”

^{Jos Buttler is back in the England Test squad}

The Cricketer had a good look at Bairstow’s batting for Yorkshire against Essex at Chelmsford – twice in one day! He made seven as his side were bowled out for 50, but his belligerent 50 in the evening set the tone for an extraordinary comeback.

“Every time someone missed one it hit the stumps, every time they hit one they nicked it,” he said. “You can look at it in any way possible, and say, start of the season, are we preparing pitches for people just to bowl seam and not bowl fast? Are we preparing pitches to just get results in two days? Yes the fact is we were bowled out for 50, then bowled them out for 120 – 20 wickets before tea. I wouldn’t say it changed too much when I got my 50, but I am pleased with my form.”

He also made 95 against Surrey at The Oval, and he added: “I have had exactly what was needed. We had a long and very intense trip to Australia and New Zealand, so we needed a break.”

He is also a committed custodian of the wicketkeeping gloves, and has no intention of relinquishing them to Buttler in the Test team, although the roles are reversed in white-ball cricket. “My keeping has been going from strength to strength – you’ve seen the hard work I have put in. That hard work will continue.

“If somebody gets injured there’s somebody [Buttler] to come in. It works well. In my first Test Matty P [Prior] was keeping. It is great for English cricket that we have those options. We are in a strong, exciting position to have the batting line-up we have.”

Bairstow is also backing his captain Joe Root’s elevation to No.3. “Joe’s a world-class player, he averages 53 in Tests, his record speaks for itself. I think he has done very well in his first year of captaincy. People will question bits, but I am sure people who have been through the same will sympathise. It wasn’t an easy winter, but the way in which he has wanted to take the team forward is really positive.”

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