Jonny Bairstow Is Back . . . And Ready To Add Needed Gas To Welsh Fire

By Paul Jones

Jonny Bairstow proved he is on track for a return to Cardiff with Welsh Fire this summer as well as Ashes duty for England.

The Yorkshire batsman fell three short of a dashing century on his first outing in almost eight months, picking up where he left off last summer as he hit the comeback trail with Yorkshire’s second team.

Bairstow cracked 97 in just 88 deliveries against Nottinghamshire’s second string, with 13 boundaries and two sixes, before hammering fellow England international Olly Stone to cover with a hundred in sight.

The 33-year-old had not played since a freak golfing accident last September left him with three separate fractures in his left leg as well as a dislocated ankle and ligament damage.

But has now taken a major step in what has been a long and arduous recovery.

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Bairstow did not play a single game for Welsh Fire last season.

Due to captain the team, he withdrew from the entire campaign of The Hundred at the start of August in order to rest ahead of the Test series against South Africa.

Fire went on to have another poor season – losing all eight of their matches in the tournament, having won three with Bairstow in their ranks in the inaugural 2021 season.

They have retained only five players from the previous season – Bairstow, Ollie Pope, David Payne, Joe Clarke, and George Scrimshaw and replaced Gary Kirsten with Mike Hussey as head coach.

But Bairstow was in the midst of a career-best run of form when injury struck at the end of last summer, taking a leading role in England’s Test renaissance with four hundreds in five innings, and he was back amongst the runs in day one at Headingley.

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Yorkshire coach Tom Smith admitted his side’s star attraction had succumbed to a few butterflies ahead of his first appearance in 241 days, but was pleased to see him back in the old groove soon enough.

“He was a little bit nervous this morning, it was like his debut again,” said Smith.

“He had a little chat with the lads this morning and it was quite funny – he said ‘just watch it on the running’. But his first run he sprinted a single and we had a chuckle to ourselves.

“He’s been keen as mustard to get out there playing cricket after such a long time off. He was gutted to get out, no matter what form of cricket he’s gutted to get out – but he was happy with the way it went. Getting runs being out there in the middle, he was chuffed to bits.

“You can have as many nets as you want but when you actually get out there and face bowlers like Olly Stone it’s going to test you. It’s been a good challenge.”

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