Former England skipper Alastair Cook feels that it is a huge ask from Jonny Bairstow to be at his absolute best behind the stumps, who is returning to the England team after a freak accident while playing golf in September last year.
The 33-year-old broke his left leg and dislocated his ankle days before the start of the final Test between England and South Africa. It is reported that he broke his leg while enjoying golf with mates in Yorkshire and has recovered just before the Ireland series on home soil.
Jonny Bairstow has blown hot and cold with his inconsistent batting performance and glovework against Australia in the ongoing Ashes series.
Speaking in a media interaction with Sony Sports Network, Alastair Cook gave his verdict on the performance of the English glovemen in the series, as he feels it tough for him to keep wickets coming back from the injury and the veteran wicket-keeper hasn’t kept wickets for England team in the presence of Jos Butler across the formats.
“Well, I had Jonny Bairstow in my squad at the start of the series for the innings he can play. He hasn’t kept as well as he can keep in those first three games, maybe it was a huge ask for where he came with his injury,” Alastair Cook said.
The wicketkeeper-batter played exceedingly well in the 4th test playing counter-attacking knock to score an unbeaten 99* in the crucial game, which was washed due to the rain. Jonny Bairstow has been in sensational form in red-ball cricket in 2022 scoring four brilliant centuries–and has been a mainstay in the test setup of the England team over the last few years.
Jonny Bairstow Always Continued Trying To Play That Way And He Got Back – Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook hailed the English wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow for his competitive nature to play the game at the highest level and praised him for making a comeback for his failures to do well for the team and also lauded him for an impact knock on the 2nd innings of the fourth test.
“But what we know about Jonny Bairstow and we’ve seen over all his career, what a competitive nature he’s got. To keep on coming back from the tough position when you drop a few catches and he has missed some chances but he’s never thrown it in.
“He’s always continued trying to play that way and he got back and got rewarded for it in that last Test match. You can see the 99 shows how destructive he can be,” Alastair Cook added.
Jonny Bairstow would look to prove his worth in the final game of the Ashes series as England will look to draw the series against the mighty Australian team and the hard-hitting batter would be crucial for the England team in the ODI World Cup later this year.