England wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow failed to steer his team past the victory line on the fourth day of the third Ashes 2023 Test match at Headingley today. Sixth English batter to be dismissed on the day, and second in the afternoon session, Bairstow’s dismissal affected his team’s chances of avoiding a series loss.
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Coming in to bat at No. 7 as compared to No. 5 in the first innings, Bairstow’s brief stay in the middle saw him scoring 5 (8) comprising one four before he played on a Mitchell Starc (5/78) delivery back to his stumps. Wanting to play an ambitious drive against the angle, all Bairstow did was drag the ball to the wickets to not contribute for the second time in a row on his home ground.
While a 59-run seventh-wicket partnership between batter Harry Brook (75) and all-rounder Chris Woakes (32*) has all but ensured an English victory in a 251-run chase, it was an ideal situation for Bairstow to leave a mark with a bat in hand in a must-win contest.
Jonny Bairstow Ashes 2023
In the six innings across three Tests that Bairstow has batted in in this series thus far, he has scored 141 runs at an average of 23.50 and a strike rate of 64.09. With Bairstow having missed all forms of cricket in 2023 due to a freak accident, these numbers are also valid for his Test record this year.
The 33-year old player’s solitary half-century of the series till now had come in his first innings at Edgbaston. Since then, he has had starts but hasn’t been able to convert them into a substantial impact-generating knock as was the case multiple times during the last English summer.
In addition to being below par with the bat in hand, Bairstow has also been a disappointment with his glovework behind the stumps. Having dropped catches and missed stumpings in each one of these three Tests, Bairstow had erred twice on the first day of the ongoing match as well.
With England heavily relying on him especially under the Bazball era, Bairstow himself would be looking to come up with more in the remaining two matches of the series.
