Jonny Bairstow has credited the influence of the Indian Premier League on his blistering Test hundred at Trent Bridge.
The middle order maestro put on a brutal display of powerful hitting during the afternoon of the fifth day to help secure the five wicket win. And far from indulging in the usual tempo associated with Test cricket both he and Ben Stokes batted as if it were a white ball contest to be won as quickly as humanly possible.
Good thing then, that he had spent much of the previous two months at the IPL trying to do precisely the same thing for the Kings XI Punjab and hit the bowlers into the stands. And the Yorkshireman is very clear of the benefits for his game of playing there rather than in the county championship, and it is not simply about the £700,000 pay packet.
“There were a lot of people that were saying I should not be at the IPL and I should be playing county cricket,” said Bairstow. “That's part and parcel of the game. Decisions are decisions and if I could say what I wanted to then…
“But there's also elements to it where you are playing against the best in the world at the IPL. So being able to have those gears, to be able to go and switch them up, switch them down is important. Yes, people say it would be fantastic if you had four games of red-ball cricket under your belt. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen in the current scheduling of everything around the world.
“We're very fortunate to be able to play in some of the best competitions against the best players in the world. So when it comes to pressure situations, the more and more you're able to put yourself under those pressure situations, the better. Because it's those situations that you've gone through in the past whether that be in the IPL, one-day cricket, or red-ball cricket previously that you're able to call upon for evenings like that.”
It was Bairstow’s third Test hundred in his last six matches but his first under the new captain/coach combination of Stokes and Brendon McCullum. He has often played some of his best cricket with Stokes at the other end - Cape Town 2016 springs to mind - but the influence of McCullum, a similarly pugnacious cricketer could work wonders for the 32-year-old.
“Everyone has got complete backing from Brendon and Ben about how they want to go about their games,” he added. I’ve played under lots of coaches and captains and they’ve all brought different good bits out of me, and I’m extremely excited about the vision Brendon and Ben have for the team.
“It has only been a couple of weeks so the relationship is evolving and everyone is learning their part, but there hasn’t been a negative thought in the dressing room. It is the start of an exciting journey.”
