England wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow hit back at the criticism over his performance for the England team since his return from injury during the Ireland series on home soil. The 33-year-old has blown hot and cold with his inconsistent batting performance and glovework against Australia in the ongoing Ashes series.
Jonny Bairstow batted exceedingly well with the lower-order batters and took on the Australian bowling attack to score 99 runs off just 81 deliveries on Day 3 to help England be in a comfortable position on the crucial 4th test in Manchester and post a massive total of 592 runs in the 1st innings.
Speaking to the broadcasters after the game, Jonny Bairstow revealed that it was tiresome to take criticism about his performance in the ongoing Ashes test and reckons that unfair to be called him rubbish despite playing 94 games for England in the longer format of the game and believes that he is done fairly in the given opportunities for the in ongoing series so far.
“Everyone thinks that I play better when people go at me, it gets a bit tiresome to be honest with you. I’ve played a lot of cricket now and to keep being told that you’re rubbish. Well, if I was rubbish, I wouldn’t have played 94 games. I’ve been happy with my form. There’s been a couple of interesting dismissals during the series but it’s only a couple games ago that I got 70-odd, so it is what it is,” Jonny Bairstow said.
Bairstow was recalled as England’s Test wicketkeeper at the expense of Ben Foakes for next month’s one-off Test against Ireland. The 33-year-old has not played cricket since suffering a freak injury on a golf course in September and the wicket-keeper batter has played few impactful knocks for the team in Ashes.
I Want To Go Out And Enjoy And Entertain – Jonny Bairstow
Jonny Bairstow was elated with the performance for the England side so far, as he had few interesting dismissals in the series so far including one of Alex Carey’s controversial stumping on the second test, which shifted the game in favour of the Australian team.
“I’ve been happy. There have been a couple of interesting dismissals. It is only a couple of games ago that I got a 70-odd. It is what it is. I want to go out and enjoy and entertain. I can leave them to their comments and I’ll just keep on doing what I’m doing,” Jonny Bairstow added.
The right-handed batter would be important for the team’s success in the 2nd innings and the mostly likely deciding 5th test on the Oval and the hard-hitting batter would be crucial for the England team in the ODI World Cup later this year.