A spiky Jonny Bairstow declared his pride at driving England towards what would be a vital Ashes victory at Old Trafford, labelling the criticism over his form this summer “out of order”.
Bairstow scored a superb unbeaten 99 on day three of the Fourth Test, stranded one run shy of his century when James Anderson was the last man out as England posted a daunting total of 592. The home side must win the game to set up a decider at the Oval next week and are well on their way to doing so after taking four top order wickets on Friday evening to leave Australia still 162 runs from making England bat again.
