Jonny Bairstow will be hell-bent on doing something special to mark his inauguration into England’s Hundred Club this week.
The occasion of his 100th Test in Dharamshala might be a dead rubber against India but it will be viewed by Jonny as a fabulous milestone, not so much for himself but for his family.
I know his mum Janet really well because she worked as cricket administrator at Yorkshire for a long time while my wife Diana held a similar position at Lancashire.
Janet’s a real character and did remarkably well to bring up her two kids, Becky and Jonny, after the family tragedy that took their father David from them at such a young age.
She made sure they had every opportunity to succeed in their chosen careers and I know Jonny will dedicate this match to his mum and late dad. David Bairstow was someone I played with and against. Marvellous company, a gregarious lad who always had plenty to say.
Jonny Bairstow is set to make his 100th test appearance for England this week in Dharamshala
His father, David Bairstow, pictured keeping wicket for Yorkshire during a match against Middlesex at Lord’s
Bairstow has had a difficult series, with the wicketkeeper failing to hit a half century so far
Roses matches were tough affairs, with nothing given on the field, but in the Seventies and Eighties there was a social side, too, and Bluey, as everyone called him, would lead the charge out of Headingley at stumps, leaving the ground to go up St Michael’s Road to the Original Oak pub for a couple of pints and a game of bowls out the back.
He also possessed one of the loudest voices I’ve ever heard, emphasised by an incident on a tour of South Africa.
I was captain, Bluey was wicketkeeper. We were playing a match at Newlands, and while fielding he broke the silence with a booming observation: ‘Look at them folk on top of that hill.’ Hill? It was Table Mountain, which is the backdrop to one of the most picturesque grounds in the world.
Jonny’s maiden Test hundred also came under that ‘hill’ in Cape Town — an unbeaten 150 in 2016, somewhat overshadowed by Ben Stokes’s double hundred, yet still a very poignant innings.
He’s now a dad himself, although I don’t expect that will stop Jonny being quite an emotional player.
He has had one or two moments, hasn’t he? Like walking out of his crease for no apparent reason at Lord’s last year. And his celebrations, always in tribute to his dad and other family members, are off the scale. He lets it all out and I don’t mind that at all.
Forget the position he is batting for England now, I feel he has followed in his father’s footsteps as a belligerent No 7. Bluey would come in, five wickets down, wanting to get on with it, and Jonny has always wanted to be a wicketkeeper with the family trait of attacking batting.
Bairstow (centre) was ran out by Alex Carey at Lord’s last summer after he walked out of his crease for no apparent reason
The 34-year-old celebrated his century during England’s second Test vs New Zealand back in 2022
Being wicketkeeper-batsman, coming in at seven, suits him perfectly and the statistics back that up. Yes, of his 12 Test tons, seven have come in his 44 matches as a frontline batter, but he averages 34.95 in that role as opposed to 37.63 in his 55 matches as a Test wicketkeeper.
I first became aware of Jonny — because of the surname — when he burst on to the first-team scene with Yorkshire, but it was when he made his England debut in a rain-hit ODI against India in Cardiff in 2011 that I really took note.
Only 10 men have scored a hundred in their 100th Test, with Joe root being one of them
England needed 75 to win from 50 balls when he walked to the crease and he showed everyone how he intended to play at the top level with a man-of-the-match, unbeaten 41 off just 21 balls, helping his team canter to a six-wicket win.
I never doubted he was a player who was going to make it. Why? Because of his style: totally unselfish, with an ability to change the game. It is so important in Tests to put pressure back on the opposition.
Having been an international coach, I can tell you that his name will feature on the whiteboard in the opposition dressing room, because he can really hurt you with the speed of his scoring.
With an average of 36 and a strike rate of 59, he is someone who influences outcomes. Those numbers are close to ideal for a wicketkeeper.
And to critics of his glovework, I ask you: was Adam Gilchrist the best wicketkeeper in Australia when he played Test cricket? Was Mahendra Singh Dhoni the best in India? Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara? Our own Matt Prior? Brendon McCullum of New Zealand?
No, and in each case their worth to the team in front of the stumps outweighed whatever they did behind them.
Ditto Bairstow’s worth to England, and he really comes into his own joining an existing batter in the middle or being left with the tail.
Bairstow’s worth to England, and he really comes into his own joining an existing batter in the middle or being left with the tail
Bairstow made his England debut in a rain-hit ODI against India in Cardiff in 2011, hitting an unbeaten 41 off 21 balls to help his team claim a six-wicket win
Think back to that fabulous, unbeaten 99 marshalling the lower order against Australia in Manchester last July. He’s such a powerful player.
The flame-haired Bairstow is also a keen barbecuer, inviting his team-mates over whenever England have a Test in Leeds.
His mum sent me a picture of the magnificent fire-pit area at the back of his house, so I promptly built a replica using old logs that had been lying around my woodland, sending the photographic evidence on to him for approval.
Even if I say so myself, my bespoke Jonny-style seating area looks great, and it cost me nothing. Zero. Nil. Nowt. I’m still learning to live in Yorkshire, you see, and these things are important.
I might even go out and buy some matches and light a fire this week. After all, it’s a special occasion.
