A Test Recall Is My Burning Ambition: Jonny Bairstow

England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow enjoyed his best run in Tests in 2016 when he averaged a daunting 58.80 in 17 Tests while amassing 1470 runs. However, since then, Jonny Bairstow’s technique has not been up to that level, leading him to an axing. And as he remains a mainstay in England’s white-ball plans, Bairstow looks forward to the 2023 World Cup and winning back his Test cap.

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Jonny Bairstow’s last of his 70 Tests came against South Africa last year at the Centurion in which he only scored ten runs across two innings. In contrast to his average in 2016 of 58.80, there was a sharp dip for the next two years. In 2017 and 2018, the 30-year old averaged only 34.332 and 30.45 respectively that further slipped to 18.56 in 2019. While Jos Buttler has not done exceedingly well in Tests either, England has preferred him over Bairstow.

After slamming a whirlwind 82 in England’s victory over Ireland in the second ODI on Saturday, Jonny Bairstow said that a Test recall is his ‘burning ambition’. He claimed that his performance in the ODI series is the starting point while adding that he would go back to Yorkshire to participate in the four-day games. Hence, the journey for the right-handed batsman to win back a Test return begins here.

“A test recall “is my burning ambition, but the only way I’m going to do that is to score runs, starting in this ODI series. I’m hopefully going back to Yorkshire to play two four-day games in between this and the T20s. So yeah, the journey to hopefully get back into contention for that starts here,” the Yorkshire batsman told Sky Sports.

Jonny Bairstow keen on helping England retain the World Cup:

The Yorkshire batsman has done exceedingly well at the top for England in limited-overs cricket and clattered 532 runs in the 2019 World Cup. Bairstow, who also crossed the landmark of 3000 ODI runs, stated that he hopes to make the Englishmen retain the title at the sub-continent in 2023.

“We try and reach 4,000, we try and reach even more than that, as long as you’re contributing to the team and playing the way we have been over the last few years. We’re striving to keep pushing those boundaries forward to 2023. That’s my next bit – I want to be there in 2023 and really pushing and see if we can retain it,” Bairstow added.

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