I want to play every format: Jonny Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow made his comeback to Test cricket with a masterful 140 against the visiting Sri Lankans in the first Test at Headingley. He also followed it up with some wonderful glove work behind the stumps as he was fittingly named as the man of the match. While Bairstow is exclusively used in Test cricket, the stylish right-handed batsman has come out stating that he would love to feature in all the formats of cricket. At the moment, Jos Buttler and Sam Billings are the custodians for the Brits in the limited overs.

“I want to play every format I can. Absolutely,” Bairstow said. “I want to play all forms of cricket for England, that’s an ambition I have. I want to succeed in that. If that opportunity does arise, I don’t see any reason why Jos and I can’t play on the same side. I think that would be an exciting prospect with the likes of Stokesy, Jos and myself in that middle-order.”

“I think it has been the culmination of a few years,” he said. “Being left out of the side isn’t necessarily a very nice thing to have done to you. I think moving forward, you either rest on your laurels or you take it on the chin and crack on. I think you learn a lot about yourself. It’s not necessarily a nice thing to be left out or not do so well in a position that you know you’re capable of doing.”

The purple patch for Bairstow began when he averaged 92 with the bat for his county Yorkshire. He also scored an unbeaten 83 for England in the One-Day International series decider against New Zealand last June but has still been sidelined from the limited overs squads as the management has preferred to play Buttler ahead of him.

“Coming back to Yorkshire for pretty much two years, learning your game, learning about yourself, playing my cricket here in a really great environment and winning trophies has done us and myself the world of good. The form can be taken from you very quickly. It only takes a couple of bits to go wrong and all of a sudden potentially you can be out of form. At this moment in time, I’m feeling good, happy with the way I’m striking the ball and with my movement. Hopefully, that can continue.”

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“I’ll bat wherever. [No. 5 is] the position I bat for Yorkshire and keep wickets so if that opportunity comes up, it comes up,” he said. “I’m happy at seven. As we know, the team is pretty balanced with Stokesy at six and Mo [Moeen Ali] at eight and myself at seven. I think that is a really good position to be in. The rest, I don’t really want to think about to be honest because at this moment in time, I’m just happy, playing my cricket, seeing the ball, trying to catch the ball.”

“First Test in England keeping wicket, first hundred in England in the Test side, 25th cap at your home ground in front of your home crowd is a fantastic moment. It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. And to have family and friends here makes it a pretty good week.

“I didn’t go on and score big runs in the UAE but I was happy with the way I was playing. South Africa, the way I contributed there with both bat and gloves, I was pretty pleased with. And it was important I started this season well. I’m pleased with the way it has gone for Yorkshire and started for England but we know it will be tough for the rest of the series against Sri Lanka and who knows what will happen against Pakistan.”