Ashes: With unbeaten 99 off 81, Jonny Bairstow rubs salt into Australian wounds

After looking clueless on Thursday, Australia were listless at the Old Trafford on Friday. They were 113/4, still trailing by 162 runs in their second innings. Fast bowler Mark Wood took three crucial wickets, that of opener Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and Tarvis head, to leave the visitors on the ropes. Wood’s 3 for 17 and Bairstow’s blitz swung the game in England favour

Bairstow left them stunned before the Australians could bat a second time. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Bazball isn’t complete without Bairstow. A key component of England’s white-ball revolution, where his combination with Jason Roy at the top, set the tone, he has a different role with the red-ball side that is revolutionizing Test cricket. Instead of setting up the game, England wanted him to perform the role that a certain Adam Gilchrist did for an all-conquering Australia side in the noughties.

And in the Bazball era, where each England batsmen seems to be competing with their own teammates, it is Bairstow who is the run-away leader in terms of strike-rate. In the 10 Tests that Bairstow has played under Brendon McCullum, his strike-rate stands at 88.86 to go with an average of 54.80, which has seen him make four centuries to go with two fifties. While the strike-rate of Ollie Pope, Crawley, Joe Root and Ben Stokes have all improved under Bazball, none can come close to Bairstow in terms of playing those impactful innings.

Out of his four centuries in this Bazball era, three of those have come when the chips were down and England needed something extraordinary. His first (136 vs NZ) came when England were 93/4 in a chase of 299. The next one, a 162 came with England reeling at 55/6 against the Kiwis, where he also scored an unbeaten 71 in the second innings chasing 296. And then came the two hundreds against India, where he first kept them in the game with 106 and then made an unbeaten 114 in a successful chase of 378 in Birmingham last year.

Second-new ball

When Bairstow came out to bat on Friday, the top-order had already put to sword the Australian attack. England already had a sizable lead of 120 when Bairstow walked to the middle after the dismissal of Stokes. But for the first time the hosts face the second new ball in this series.

Bairstow was beginning to tee-off when lunch was taken with him unbeaten on 41 as England were placed 506/8. And when Broad fell shortly after lunch, Bairstow was on 49.

In the next 8.1 overs, in the company of James Anderson, Bairstow would take apart the Australian bowlers.

With a 209 lead already in the pocket, Bairstow went about inflicting more damage. The key to Bairstow’s success lies in how simple he keeps his batting. Of course, he plays cross-batted shots, but look at his positioning. He doesn’t get himself into awkward positions while trying to swat the deliveries. With a still head and footwork to complement, he uses his hands to maximum effect, swinging the bat within the line that allows him to cut down a percentage of risk that comes while playing such shots.

Equally good against full deliveries and short balls, Bairstow’s only issue lies with the in-swingers. But he has put that behind by being more judicious in his defence. He whipped any delivery that was angled into him behind the square. Anything that landed short, went over or through mid-wicket. If Australia went fuller, he went on the off-side. He did all this, while successfully managing to get Anderson off the strike, by going for tight singles whenever his partner played. Alex Carey’s throws repeatedly missed the stumps. Bairstow didn’t get a hundred but his 99 showed how valuable he is lower down the order.

Weather permitting on Day 4 and 5, England are within a touching distance from squaring the series with the final Test to be played at the Oval.