Jonny Bairstow, who plays wicketkeeper and bats for England and was forced to miss the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia due to a bizarre leg injury he sustained while playing golf in September of 2017, had thought that he would never be able to walk normally again.
“You start to question whether or not you’ll ever be able to walk, jog, run, or play cricket again. According to what ESPNcricinfo reported him saying, “Absolutely, all of those things do run through your mind at some point.”
Bairstow, on the other hand, was included in England’s Test team for the Ashes warm-up match against Ireland. Ireland recently suffered a 2-0 defeat to Bangladesh in a one-day international series that was played in England.
Ben Foakes, a fellow stumper-batter, was released to make room for Jonny Bairstow, who had hit six hundreds in 2022 before suffering an injury.
During the team’s run of 10 wins in 12 Tests, Foakes established himself as the first choice behind the stumps under the direction of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes. This occurred when Bairstow was out with an injury.
“I’ve been in that same position previously around getting dropped so I’ve got a huge amount of sympathy for Ben (Foakes) and for anyone really who gets dropped,” Bairstow said in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday. Bairstow was the last wicketkeeper to keep for England in a Test match in 2021.
Michael Atherton, a former captain of England, expressed his approval of the choice made by the England board to select Bairstow rather than Foakes.
In my opinion, Bairstow’s ability with the bat gives England a better chance of winning a match than his ability with the gloves does. According to what Atherton said in his column for the daily The Times, “he would be my choice.”
“Coming in at number seven against an old ball and a tiring attack, it is not hard to imagine the destruction he might cause,” said the narrator of the movie.
Before beginning the five-match Ashes series against Australia at Edgbaston on June 16, England will play Ireland at Lord’s, which is scheduled to take place on June 1.