Jonny Bairstow Wife, Family, Age, Stats And Records

In today's article, we are going to talk about a player who has had a strong bond with the Gentlemen's game for a long time in England's cricket history. Despite losing his inspiration at the mere age of just 8, he stood tall and worked hard on his dreams of representing the England National Cricket team on an international stage as one of the best opening batters in cricketing history. Yes! we are talking about England star opening batsman Johnny Bairstow, who plays for the English cricket team in all three formats as an opening batsman and sometimes as a wicket-keeper, too. 

Johnny Bairstow was born on September 26, 1989,  in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Cricket was in the blood of Bairstow as his mother, Janet, was the first female vice-president of Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2020. Meanwhile, His father,  David Bairstow, had represented the England cricket team as a wicket-keeper batsman for both, Yorkshire and England. However, David died in 1998 when Jonny was eight years old. Despite that, Johnny didn't lose his belief in his skills and followed his father's dream, who was his inspiration and represented the England National Cricket team in 20ii in the ODI series against India. Jonny has a sister, Rebecca, and their elder half-brother is former Derbyshire player Andrew Bairstow.

The Right-handed batsman studied at  St Peter's School, York, in 2001, where he excelled in his sports, a player who was involved in several sports including rugby, hockey, and right-back in football before deciding between cricket and other sports. You might not know but Baistow won a young school cricketer award, after scoring 654 runs for the school in 2007. Meanwhile, in football, Bairstow was a member of the Leeds United Academy for eight years until he was fifteen.

At the age of just 18 years,  Bairstow was invited to play Second Eleven cricket for Yorkshire in the 2008 season, making six appearances in the Second XI Championship, in which he scored 308 runs at an average of 61.60 due to which, he was included in Yorkshire's first-team squad for the final County Championship match of the season against Sussex, but was not selected for the starting eleven. However, three weeks later, Bairstow signed a two-year contract with Yorkshire.

In the 2009 season playing for the Second XI. He was awarded his Second XI cap and, in early June, he scored 202 not out against Leicestershire Second XI for which he was picked for the first team in a County Championship match against Somerset at Headingley, where he got a chance to replace the legendary Michael Vaughan and, on his first-class debut, scored 28 and 82.  Bairstow got a chance to play in twelve first-class matches that season, scoring 592 runs at an average of 45.53, completing six half-centuries with a highest score of 84 not out, and taking 21 catches.

After his incredible performance as a wicket-keeper batsman in first-class cricket, the right-handed batsman impressed everyone and became Yorkshire's first-choice wicket-keeper in the 2011 season and was awarded his county cap, where he started the season well by scoring 205, his maiden first-class century, against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. During that season, he took part in fifteen matches, scored 1,213 runs with an average of 48.52 with three centuries, and was the only Yorkshire batter to score 1,000 runs. 

International career

In 2011, the England opening batter was included in the England squads for both, One Day Internationals (ODI) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20I).  However, got a chance to make his ODI debut against India on 16 September, and then his T20I debut against West Indies on 23 September.

The wicket-keeper batsman's first ODI hundred came against West Indies at Trent Bridge in 2017 when England was required to chase 205 runs to win the game and Bairstow scored 100 not out while opening the innings and leading them to a seven-wicket victory. Meanwhile, his 1st hundred in the long format of the game came against South Africa, which was a career-defining knock as a wicket-keeper batsman. After scoring 41 and 79 runs in the first test match at Kingsmead taking 4 catches and one stumping. Bairstow came when England were 5 wickets down on the score of 225 in the first innings at Capetown and he made a record partnership of 399 for the sixth wicket which ended when Stokes got run out as they tried to score the 400th run. Stokes scored the second-fastest double-century in Test History during this match. Bairstow scored 150 not out, his maiden Test century and a defining moment in his life for the sixth wicket with Ben Stokes.

Currently, Johnny Bairstow is one of the best opening batters from the England cricket. However, after Phil Salt's inclusion in the team in T20Is he plays as a middle-order batsman from the England team in T20Is and Test Matches. 

Bairstow has represented the England team in 100 Test matches and 100 Test matches and 107 ODIs where he scored 6042  and 3868 runs, with an incredibel average of  36 and 42 with having 12 and 11 tons respectively.

Jonny Bairstow's form will be crucial for the England team in the upcoming Semi-final match against India in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024