England skipper Ben Stokes backs Jonny Bairstow to shine at Headingley
Jul 05, 2023
Leeds [UK], July 5 : England skipper Ben Stokes reflected on his trust in wicketkeeper batter Jonny Bairstow and backed him to pull off high-scoring knocks in the third Test at Headingley following his stumping fiasco in the second Test of the Ashes 2023 series.
In the second Test, Bairstow left the final ball of Cameron Green's over alone to the wicketkeeper and started walking outside the crease assuming the ball was dead. However, an alert Carey realised there was an opportunity to run the batter out and effected a directed hit at the striker's end to catch Bairstow well short.
Ahead of the third Test, Bairstow moved up in the batting set-up after Ollie Pope's shoulder injury ruled him out of the entire series leading to a rejig in the batting order.
Harry Brook got promoted to No 3 and Bairstow leapfroged to number 5 spot. This is the same position from where he struck four tons in six home Tests in 2022 and registered 681 runs at an average of 75.66 with a strike rate of 96.59.
Stokes reflected on his teammate's move up the order and said as quoted by Sky Sports, "That's where he performed his miracles last summer. Jonny is someone who wants to get in the game and we feel he offers his best things to the team when he is in the game."
Bairstow will be certainly looking to make his mark after the stumping incident. Stokes reflected on Bairstow's mindset and said, "Jonny is fine. We have seen in the past that after any sort of criticism of himself, he has always managed to do something."
"If he uses what happened last week as some kind of inspiration to get the best out of himself, who knows? I said before training that whatever you need to do as individuals, do it. I don't think we can galvanise as a group any more than we have. There has been a lot of noise about the incident at Lord's but the best thing everyone can do is move on," Stokes signed off.
England will play the third Test at the Headingley on Thursday.
