Jonny Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow lit up Headingley once more as England raced to a seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in the third Test.

it is really brilliant for the game of cricket." "I think it is important we enjoy this series win. You just try and play what is in front of you and one of the great things about this series is the guys seemed to just get more and more confident and at ease. We are all loving playing it and it is great. England player of the series, Joe Root: "(Bairstow) is playing with such confidence and freedom. Joe Root finished unbeaten on 86 and Jonny Bairstow (71no off 44 balls) blasted England's second fastest Test fifty as Ben Stokes' side completed a 3-0 series sweep of New Zealand with a seven-wicket win in the third Test at Headingley

PAUL NEWMAN AT HEADINGLEY: It was somehow apt England galloped to the most emphatic whitewash on the day Eoin Morgan was being lauded on his impending ...

What a contrast to the dark days of winter when an embarrassing Ashes was followed by the new low of defeat in the Caribbean. But something seismic and significant has begun in this series and, as Rob Key urged, we all just need to buckle up and carry on enjoying the ride. They kept on coming when set to score 277 at Lord’s, they obliterated a target of 299 in Nottingham after conceding 553 in the first innings. They have scored their runs throughout the series, for goodness sake, at more than four and a half an over. If not then cricket, real cricket that is, not artificial entertainment in the form of new ever shorter formats, is not for them. England began the day needing 113 more runs on a last day pitch which had started to offer sharp spin and with cloud cover seemingly aiding swing. And they kept on coming here despite crashing to 21 for four and 55 for six in their first innings in reply to 329. Ben Stokes scored 411 runs in South Africa in 2015-16, but at a strike-rate of 109. If Root is privately wondering why it was so tough for him as captain and how everything has suddenly changed then he is not showing it. Seven of England’s top 12 chases have now come against New Zealand, and the other five against Australia. Not that the former captain will mind one bit. - This was England’s first Test whitewash since winning 3-0 in Sri Lanka in 2018-19.

Two proud sons of Yorkshire, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, were batting before a healthy day five crowd at Headingley as England waltzed to a seven-wicket ...

He had come in at 17 for three in response to 329, and England soon found themselves 55 for six. It was appropriate that Bairstow played such a telling hand in the chase, having bailed them out in the first innings. England became the first team to chase more than 250 in a single series.

ENGLAND. Alex Lees (4 & 9): Neither wicket was really his fault – bowled by the brilliance of Trent Boult in the first innings, stitched up by Zak Crawley ...

Struggled to break through Bairstow and Overton and expensive in the second innings as England went into white-ball mode. The pair were slightly less in sync in the field. Two crucial, three-figure partnerships with Tom Blundell at Headingley and unlucky to be dismissed by Potts before he could kick on in the second. Caught and bowled by Leach in the second. Henry Nicholls (19 & 7): A very unfortunate dismissal in the first innings, with his drive down the ground middled by Mitchell at the non-striker’s end to mid-off – earns a sympathetic extra point for this. Missed a review to dismiss Jamie Overton in single figures and went for two awful reviews in the second. In 2019, his 10th-wicket stand with Ben Stokes caught the eye; in 2022, his bowling did the talking. Controlled rather than eye-catching with the ball in the second. Economical in both innings, match figures of 4 for 100, and made a crucial intervention to dismiss Mitchell in the second innings. Jamie Overton (97 & DNB; 1-85 & 1-61): Solid enough with the ball, if a touch expensive in the second innings, and picked up a couple of wickets. Not at his best in the slips but did account for the dangerous Devon Conway with the ball in the second. Ollie Pope (5 & 82): Copped for a snorter from Boult in the first innings but bounced back in the second with a fine half-century (108 balls) and critical partnership with Joe Root in the second to put England on course for victory.

Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root completed England's third blistering chase in a row to kick off their riotous new era under Brendon McCullum with a series ...

With 10 runs needed to win and the forlorn Bracewell starting a new over, Bairstow decided to draw a line under proceedings. New Zealand changed the pace but not the outcome when Michael Bracewell came on, Bairstow sweeping his first ball for four and depositing another maximum over long-on. Bairstow leathered Southee flat down the ground to reach his half-century, Root having settled into a back-seat role. In the blink of an eye, England’s target was into double figures for the first time. Here they completed the chase at a manic average run-rate of 5.54. He brought up his half-century in 30 balls, two more than Sir Ian Botham’s 1981 record, and finished the game with the last of three huge sixes.

It was a dream start for England's new Test captain, Ben Stokes, and the new head coach, Brendon McCullum, as England beat New Zealand 3-0.England hav.

He raced to the second quickest half century to ever be hit by an Englishman in a Test match and in fitting style he hit the winning runs with a six to finish on 71 runs off 44 balls, while Root ended on 82 not out. After New Zealand posted a first innings score of 329, it seemed the old England had returned, as the top order quickly collapsed to 55-6, with none of the first four batsmen getting out of single figures. It was a dream start for England’s new Test captain, Ben Stokes, and the new head coach, Brendon McCullum, as England beat New Zealand 3-0.

While scoring runs to seal tense run-chases requires a considerable amount of skill, the manner in which England batter Jonny Bairstow is smashing runs in Test ...

He has been a phenomenal player. “He [Jonny Bairstow] has been hitting the ball really well. Bairstow, 32, is the highest Test run-scorer in 2022.

In keeping with their astonishing efforts over the past month, England needed just 15.2 overs and a shade over an hour to score the 113 runs required for ...

With 10 runs needed to win and the forlorn Bracewell starting a new over, Bairstow decided to draw a line under proceedings. New Zealand changed the pace but not the outcome when Michael Bracewell came on, Bairstow sweeping his first ball for four and depositing another maximum over long-on. Bairstow leathered Southee flat down the ground to reach his half-century, Root having settled into a back-seat role. In the blink of an eye, England’s target was into double figures for the first time. Here they completed the chase at a manic average run-rate of 5.54. He brought up his half-century in 30 balls, two more than Sir Ian Botham’s 1981 record, and finished the game with the last of three huge sixes.

Headingley (final day of five): New Zealand 329 & 326, England 360 & 296-3 - England won by seven wickets. Scorecard. England completed a whitewash of the ...

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Bairstow is poised to join England's elite 10000-run club after replicating his white-ball form in the Test arena.

And so, while Root’s status in the annals of English batting history was long ago assured, his Yorkshire team-mate is rapidly mounting a case to join him there. Comparing Bairstow and Root across formats, indeed, gives a sense of Bairstow’s worth. In limited-overs cricket, Bairstow only needs to continue at his present rate to mount an irrefutable case for greatness. The other nine - Joe Root, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart, David Gower, Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick - all scored the majority of their runs in Tests. Then again, this innings merely ranked a distant third among Bairstow’s most remarkable Test innings of the past fortnight, during which he has found a rarefied level of batting, combining swagger and power with extraordinary control and calm. Traditionally, Test runs have been the currency of English batting greatness.

The era of 'Bazball' is here - and England are a team transformed! It's been a perfect start under the new regime with world Test champions New Zealand ...

A first Test wicket under his belt, Leach's wickets this week might mean he has to wait a while for the next one but Parkinson did well enough to keep himself in contention as and when England are looking at their other spin options. A dream debut at Lord's saw him claim Kane Williamson as his first Test wicket - and he dismissed him twice more before the series was done - and he has not looked back. He was rewarded with a first home five-for and backed it up with another in the second innings to claim a maiden 10-wicket match haul in Tests. After a tough couple of years, Leach and England will hope this is the start of a more productive period for him. The 23-year-old Durham pacer was arguably the pick of the England bowlers in Leeds and the skill, consistency and intelligence with which he bowled across the three matches should be enough to excite fans going forward. A century at Lord's, his first in the fourth innings of a Test match, got the new era off to a winning start, another followed in Nottingham and had Bairstow not been in such a rush on day five at Headingley, there is every chance he would have notched a third. He played brilliantly in an England record 241-run stand for the seventh wicket and fell agonisingly short of the century that those inside Headingley were willing him to reach. He will hope to recover from the bout of Covid-19 that saw him withdrawn midway through the series finale in time to retake his place against India. In the space of a couple of weeks, Bairstow played two of the most remarkable innings you could wish to see. Having relinquished the captaincy, Root's role in the side has been simplified to scoring runs - and he continues to do so at a staggering rate. All the shots are there but choosing when to play them remains an issue, with his eagerness to drive proving to be a real problem area of late. Since the second innings at Lord's, he has batted positively and has begun to look increasingly comfortable at this level. The era of 'Bazball' is here - and England are a team transformed!