Jonny Bairstow says he is still a ‘work in progress’ despite back-to-back ODI hundreds

Jonny Bairstow insists that his batting in one-day cricket is still a “work in progress” despite hitting back-to-back centuries to help England to a 3-2 ODI series win in New Zealand.

After scoring 138 in a losing cause in Dunedin, the Yorkshireman blitzed 104 from 60 balls as England powered their way to a seven-wicket victory in the fifth ODI in Christchurch.

Having forced his way into the England side for last summer’s Champions Trophy semi-final, Bairstow scored his maiden ODI hundred in September but even after reaching three figures four times in his last 15 ODI innings, he says there is more to come.

“Obviously opening the batting is a bit different to batting in the middle order so my job is now to go out, try and score big hundreds and contribute to match-winning scores,” he said.

“That’s something I’m really trying to set my mark out to do. It’s something that is still a work in progress and will hopefully continue to be for a long time.

“It’s a case of just giving yourself a little bit of extra time at the top. It’s something that you talk about quite a bit and then when you’re actually out there and doing it, it can be quite frustrating especially when you look up and you might only be on one or two off 10 balls.

“But nowadays you can try and catch that up a bit later on.”

Bairstow did just that as he took only 20 deliveries to get from 50 to 100 as England chased down 224 inside 33 overs.

The modest target came after a sterling effort in the field, led by player of the series Chris Woakes, who took 3-32.

“I thought our bowlers really did set the tone after winning the toss,” England captain Eoin Morgan said.

“I thought the execution of Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, in particular, was outstanding and we really did create opportunities by building pressure.

“Following that up was always going to be hard to do but I thought we did that really well, our two spinners really did take advantage of a little bit of turn here today and created opportunities that we managed to take.”

England welcome Alex Hales back into the XI for the series-deciding match after Jason Roy was ruled out due to back spasms.

The opener made 61 in an opening stand of 155 with Bairstow but head coach Trevor Bayliss played down the prospect of England selecting a top three of Bairstow, Roy and Hales.

“I suppose it is always a possibility but one of the strengths of this team from a bowling point of view is that we’ve always got six options,” he told Sky Sports Cricket.

“If you only have five options that means you’ve got to drop another bowler and in the one-day game, nearly every game, there is always someone for who it doesn’t go as well as they’d like so it is always good to have that sixth option.”

(c) Sky News 2018: Jonny Bairstow says he is still a ‘work in progress’ despite back-to-back ODI hundreds