It was a moment of redemption for England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow when he completed his fourth Test century on the second day of the third Test against Australia at WACA stadium in Perth. The right-hander was surrounded by controversies after reports of him giving a “headbutt” to Australian opener Cameron Bancroft at a bar made the headlines during the first Test in Brisbane.
The series had also not turned out to be a positive one for him, as the 28-year old had scored only 108 runs in four innings in the series so far. Trailing by 2-0 in the 5-match Test series, England needed some of the players to step up the mighty challenge of Aussie seam attack and took their side to a dominating position. Bairstow took the job at WACA.
The middle-order batsman stitched a 174-run partnership with left-handed batsman Dawid Malan on the first Day 1, and started strongly on Day 2. In the first half hour, Bairstow completed his century and celebrated in style. He jumped up mile high in the air and took out his helmet. Later, he gave the helmet and then a “headbutt”. “Jonny Bairstow, take a bow! Kiss at the helmet. He headbutt-ed his helmet as well… well he did. He said, ‘hello helmet’… BANG!”, the commentator said.
In spite of brilliant performances by both Malan and Bairstow, England again suffered a lower order collapse and lost six wickets with just 35 runs on the board. The visitors were all out on 404 on Day 2 by the close of the first session.
The centuries, scored by Malan and Bairstow, come as a respite to England, who had failed to deliver with the bat in the series so far. The visitors will hope the performance displayed by the two can shift focus from the off-field antiques and bring it back to cricket.