Despite winning their last four Tests while chasing daunting targets, Bairstow feels that while England have been playing a positive brand of cricket, the team might also lose games with their approach
Riding on unbeaten tons from Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, England scripted history as the team pulled off their highest-successful chase in longest format to beat by seven wickets at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Chasing a total of 378, Root and Bairstow’s 269-run partnership helped England record their fourth successive chase in Test cricket. The Ben Stokes-led side has been playing some aggressive brand of cricket, termed ‘Bazball’, since the appointment of Brendon McCullum as head coach of the team.
Despite winning their last four Tests while chasing daunting targets, Bairstow feels that while England have been playing a positive brand of cricket, the team might also lose games with their approach.
“It is great fun at the moment. The last month has been fantastic for the lads and the smiles on their faces when everyone does well is a massive part of it. I am stripping it back to the basics. The last few years have been tough on me but the last few months have been fantastic. Fair play to everyone who went through that. To the crowd as well: Day five was over in 90 minutes. I just have an enjoyment factor now. I am not afraid of failing and just want to put pressure on the opposition,” said Bairstow in a post-match presentation.
“We are going to lose games with the approach we have, but it is a positive fun brand of cricket to play. The chase was all under control (laughs). They have some world-class bowlers and you just have to soak the pressure. They try to intimidate; they have some fantastic players and it was about trying to shift the pressure on them. There are going to be phases when they are going to play really well. There was a period when it started reversing as well. And today morning was a different morning. Root and I are just two lads from Yorkshire. We have grown up playing together and spent a lot of time together from the Yorkshire academy days to the Test team now. Special to play with him,” he added.
England’s next assignment will be against South Africa during the three-match series in August.
However, prior to that, England will play three T20Is and as many ODIs against both India and the Proteas.
