No one should have been surprised that Jonny Bairstow scored runs when he got his chance back in the England team at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo. He would have cursed his luck that a freak injury forced him to miss the Test in Galle and bristled at losing as a result not only the wicketkeeping gloves but his place in the side when he was available again in Kandy, where Jos Buttler (first-class average 33.09) was preferred to himself (first-class average 45.19). Admittedly, Buttler is the side’s vice-captain, but still. Before Bairstow’s innings today, England had chopped and changed their No 3 batsmenBairstow knew he was good enough to play at this level — his record certainly suggested it — but it was important that he took this chance to remind everyone of the fact. His response to…

Source: The Times November 23, 2018 09:00 UTC