Michael Vaughan in awe of Jonny Bairstow: The former English captain extolled the current batter for scoring successive Test centuries.
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During the second day of the third Test of the ongoing New Zealand’s tour of England in Leeds, England batter Jonny Bairstow has scored another game-changing century to bail his team out of trouble.
Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the seventh over, Bairstow found himself in the middle at his home ground with New Zealand spearhead Trent Boult having dismissed the English top-order with a testing spell.
With Tim Southee dismissing Joe Root (5) in the next over, Bairstow was once again required to do the heavy lifting alongside captain Ben Stokes (18). A 22-ball 34-run fifth-wicket partnership didn’t mean much with respect to the number of runs scored but perfectly set the tone for another Bairstow special.
Finding boundaries frequently, run-scoring was never a concern for the right-handed batter. While Bairstow faced an initial task of avoiding a follow-on, the 32-year old batter’s super-attacking instincts made a mockery of all the challenges as a crazy unbeaten 209-run seventh-wicket partnership with debutant Jamie Overton (89*) turned the tables today.
Bairstow, who registered a 51-ball half-century by hitting a boundary off Southee in the 27th over, hit a boundary off Boult in the 43rd over to bring up a 95-ball century. In what is Bairstow’s 10th Test century, it is his fourth at home and in 2022, third against New Zealand and second at Headingley, under Stokes and at No. 5.
Michael Vaughan in awe of Jonny Bairstow as he scores successive Test centuries vs New Zealand
Former England and Yorkshire captain Michael Vaughan was particularly impressed by Bairstow scoring successive Test centuries in the series. Not shying away from extolling Bairstow, Vaughan played with words quite well to define an “incredible” knock on Friday.
Bairstow, who has walked back to the dressing room after scoring 130* (126) at a strike rate of 103.17 at Stumps, would have eyes on a first-innings lead on Day 3 with his team only 65 runs behind New Zealand’s score of 329.
