Absence of Yorkshire CCC’s Jonny Bairstow for England puzzling as pressure grows to find runs against West Indies – Chris Waters

It is a statistic that reflects well on Yorkshire and their success in developing talent for the national side but, in this particular instance, one that perhaps reflects poorly on England, who although deprived of captain Joe Root due to the impending birth of his second child could still have kept this proud run going by selecting his Yorkshire team-mate Jonny Bairstow.

Perhaps if Bairstow played for Kent he would have a better chance of getting into a Test XI that seems to prefer its produce these days from the Garden of England; even more so if he changed his name by deed poll to Jos Buttler.

That Bairstow could not get ahead of either Joe Denly as a batsman or Buttler as a batsman/wicketkeeper is something best left to the explanatory skills of Ed Smith, the national selector, who appears to view Bairstow as a white-ball specialist as opposed to – in the words of Yorkshire first team coach Andrew Gale and many others – “the finest wicketkeeper/batter in the world”.

There will clearly be focus on Denly and Buttler going into the first of this three-match series against the West Indies, as well as a general fascination around the series as a whole.

The novelty value should ensure plenty of interest as the players adjust to biosecure cricket, with the Ageas Bowl the perfect venue for it seeing as it is stuck in the middle of nowhere and the sort of drab, soulless place where you half expect to see people walking around in masks and full protective gear in any case, as though it was a hub employed for alien experiments.

No spectators? No worries.

Who wants to spend their days in Hedge End, Southampton, anyway ...

Root’s absence is clearly a blow to England’s most pressing concern – that of getting consistent runs from the top-order batsmen.

To beat the best (Australia in Australia, for example), big first innings totals are the order of the day, which basically means big hundreds from the men who are paid to provide them.

In 26 Test innings, the stats show that Denly has scored 780 runs at an average of 30, with a highest score of 94. Buttler, meanwhile, has managed one hundred in 73 Test innings and has only six in total at first-class level; contrast that with Bairstow (26 first-class centuries including six in Tests).

Of course, selection is never an exact science and the selectors were right to stick with the likes of Dominic Sibley and the extremely talented Ollie Pope, while few would begrudge Zak Crawley another opportunity to show what he can do.

Crawley may need to impress straight away, however, or he could be out of the team once Root returns. Indeed, this match looks like a shoot-out between Denly and Crawley (they would have to wear gloves, of course, when brandishing their pistols).

There were signs before the pandemic struck that England are developing a new way of batting under coach Chris Silverwood (at least there’s still one Yorkshireman involved in this Test match, by the way).

There was an acceptance that the team had become too cavalier under previous coach Trevor Bayliss, too willing to play “positive” cricket whatever the cost and the conditions.

But there is positivity in defence as well as in attack, and the best teams invariably find a way to adapt.

West Indies have a strong pace attack and are no pushovers, so should provide a good examination for England and their stand-in captain Ben Stokes.

At the same time, West Indies are even weaker in batting and one would expect England to beat them in home conditions, albeit the strangest home conditions in which cricket has been played.

It is refreshing to be talking about the actual cricket again, as opposed to the Covid-type issues surrounding it.

Also unlucky to be missing out this week, indeed, is the Essex batsman Dan Lawrence; England at least have strength in depth and players knocking firmly on the door.

Ultimately, credit must go to the England and Wales Cricket Board, to everyone at the Ageas Bowl and to West Indies themselves for making the trip and ensuring that cricket can take place again.

It has been a wretched few months without the old girl and, biosecure games or not, crowds or no crowds, it is certainly nice to see her back.

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