Jonny Bairstow happy with England wicketkeeper-batsman role but is he wasted batting at seven?

Are Jonny Bairstow’s batting talents wasted at seven in the order?

The Yorkshireman’s position and role in England’s line-up fell back under scrutiny after the home side were bundled out for 258 in the first innings of the second Test at Lord’s.

Bairstow has six Test hundreds to his name – the most recent of which came batting at three against Sri Lanka last November when Ben Foakes had the gloves – and his Test and first-class averages are the second-best in the side behind skipper Joe Root.

The 29-year-old refused to be drawn on whether he should bat higher up the order and relinquish the gloves to avoid an overbearing workload when the question was put to him by Nasser Hussain.

“Rooty has said he wants me to keep and bat at seven now and I’m really happy with the way that my keeping has been going – I’ve been working really, really hard on that over a long period of time,” said Bairstow. “That’s the end of it, really. I’m happy to be doing that role in the side.

“There aren’t many people who have kept wicket and batted in the top five. Obviously we are fortunate that we’ve got some all-rounders who can bat at five, six and seven and beyond.”

Asked what is the highest position that he could bat and keep, Bairstow replied laughing: “I’ve got no idea! I’ll leave that to the pundits to discuss. I’m not getting involved in those discussions.”

Former England captain ANDREW STRAUSS told Sky Sports: “He’s very defensive about the idea of losing the gloves. The work he’s put into his wicketkeeping is something that he’s very proud of.

“When he first came into the side there was a lot of criticism about his wicketkeeping. Now you don’t hear much of that – he’s really improved.

“I happen to agree with a lot of other people, given the current state of our batting line-up, that he’s too good a batsman to be hiding down at seven. He could bat as high as four but I think five is a great position for him.

“Whether he keeps the gloves or not, it’s got to be what’s in the best interests of the team – that has got to be put ahead of anything that he’d like to do. Jonny Bairstow is one of the best batsmen in England. He’s very hard to bowl at and is always a very positive type of player.”

SIR IAN BOTHAM said it could be a ‘win-win’ situation for England if Bairstow did hand over the gloves.

“I’m absolutely certain that Jos Buttler would have a totally different approach to batting if he was batting at seven rather than five.

“He’d look at what’s coming in behind him and he’d actually take the game to the bowlers, which I think is when he plays his best cricket.

“So it could be a win-win situation. I sort of understand why Jonny doesn’t want to do it. He’s worked extremely hard on his keeping but in the interests of the team in this moment, I think he needs to go and bat five.”

Sri Lanka legend KUMAR SANGAKKARA – who went on to become the fifth-highest Test run-scorer after the gloves were taken off him in 2008 – said that while he was not happy to lose the wicket-keeping role it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“When you are in your twenties you feel like you can do anything; that’s how I felt,” he said. “It was not my decision to give up the gloves – I was really angry. I thought ‘how can they do this?’

“But it turned out to be the best decision for me when it came to my batting. I still kept my gloves for one-dayers and T20s.

“You’ve got to really understand how you look at yourself. Do you look at yourself as being a wicketkeeper first and a batsman after? What is the best way that you can contribute to the side?

“If Jonny Bairstow wants to bat at number four he doesn’t want to be keeping for five sessions and then doing that. He wants to be fresh – especially when you have a choice of wicketkeepers.

“But sometimes those decisions have to be made for you; have a chat, have a conversation and see where England needs to go with its line-up and then make the change.”

NASSER HUSSAIN said that he would be in favour of Bairstow moving up the order but retaining the gloves.

“I think seven is too low for the high-quality player that he is,” he said. “I think that he will end up getting stranded with the tail as he did here [at Lord’s].

“His record is pretty good at seven, his record as a wicketkeeper-batsman is pretty good as well, I think he averages 39 with the gloves so there is the temptation of taking the gloves off him and giving them to a Buttler or Foakes.

“But I feel his keeping has really come on, he’s doing a good job with his keeping. If you are going to change it then you might as well go for a better keeper and Foakes is a better keeper but you could also move Buttler down to six or seven and have Stokes and Bairstow at five and six.

“The bottom line is that what is best for the team is most important, that’s fundamental. That’s just a given. It’s not just what Jonny wants. I have a lot of sympathy with Jonny in that he has put a lot of work into his wicketkeeping, he’s got it up to a much higher standard.”

What do you think? Tell us if you agree with our pundits by tweeting @SkyCricket.

Live coverage of the second Test continues on day four on Sky Sports The Ashes and Main Event from 10am on Saturday.

(c) Sky Sports 2019: Jonny Bairstow happy with England wicketkeeper-batsman role but is he wasted batting at seven?