sport news NASSER HUSSAIN: Jonny Bairstow is hitting it better than he ever has... he ... trends now
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The saying ‘don’t mess with form’ is often heard in cricket dressing rooms and it means cashing in when you are in nick and remembering all those times when you just could not buy a run.
One thing for certain this summer is Jonny Bairstow is not messing with form.
Bairstow is hitting the ball as well as he has ever done. He has had periods in the past when he has scored big runs, but any good run of form has been interspersed with low scores, getting clean bowled and people questioning his place.
England's Jonny Bairstow has now scored three hundreds in as many Test matches
He is hitting the ball better than he ever has done and epitomises the side's new philosophy
Now he is going from innings to innings playing the same way and Bairstow epitomises what Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum are trying to do with this England team. What’s Bazball? It’s what Jonny Bairstow has been doing.
That’s three hundreds in successive Tests now, Bairstow adding a high-quality third in this re-arranged last Test against India, and I have not seen him play a single reckless shot in that time. There has not been one occasion when I’ve thought, ‘Don’t do that Jonny, you’re better than that’.
He has controlled his instincts, he has controlled his emotions and it did not prove wise of Virat Kohli to wind him up because - as we have seen so many times over the years - when Jonny is fiery or has a point to prove he’s very dangerous.