ENGLAND TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA 2020

Bairstow takes guard, at 4 this time

Jonny Bairstow scored an unbeaten 48-ball 86
Jonny Bairstow scored an unbeaten 48-ball 86 ©Getty

"That's four, that's four." Jonny Bairstow had just clipped the ball off his hip to the left of the short-fine leg fielder. When he hit the ball, it looked to most observers like it would be a single, perhaps two. Eoin Morgan, who set off at full tilt from the other end, certainly thought so. So did the fielder, Lungi Ngidi, who chased the ball all the way to the boundary, in the sure held belief that he would cut it off. But Bairstow knew otherwise. He knew it was four as soon as he hit it. It rather summed up his remarkable, brilliant innings and not simply because of the timing and the placement. He just seemed to be one step ahead of anyone else on the field.

He certainly had to have his wits about him. He came in in the unfamiliar position of number four, where he had batted just three times before in T20I cricket, in order for England to accommodate Jos Buttler at the top of the order. Not only did he have to navigate a new role but the Newlands surface was not the typical T20 belter we have so often come to expect either. There was some turn for South Africa's spinners and it wasn't coming onto the bat from the seamers. Bairstow was in early too, having to rescue England from the perilous position of 34-3. It was not a task for the fainthearted. After all, not many teams win T20 games when they lose three wickets in the PowerPlay.

None of that seemed to bother Bairstow, though, who ended up with 86 not out from 48 balls. He looked in control from his very first delivery. Seeing that third man was up in the 30-yard circle, he calmly walked at Ngidi and glided a good length ball, just outside off-stump, past that fielder and down to the boundary. There was no exuberance or flourish. It was a no risk boundary, played calmly, the result of knowing where the field was allied to a little bit of inventiveness. It was also a precursor of things to come. Bairstow hardly ventured out of his non-bio-secure bubble. He knew what he needed to do and when. Then he went out and did it.

He was so focused that he was only vaguely aware of the match situation as the game came to its conclusion. England required 51 runs off the last four overs but Bairstow, who added 85 with Ben Stokes for the fourth wicket, said after the match that it did not register that they needed that many. He was simply biding his time, taking the game deep. "We were pretty happy with where we were at and we just needed one big over," he said. The 17th, bowled by Bueran Hendricks, went for 26 and the game was as good as done.

It would be easy to see this innings as another example of Bairstow proving a point in the face of an apparent snub by being moved down the order. It has become an accepted narrative of his career and no doubt there is some truth to it. In Sri Lanka, two years ago, for instance, he missed the first Test with an injury but was then left out for the second too when he considered himself fit. Returned to the side for the final game after an injury to Sam Curran, albeit without the wicket-keeping gloves, he made a fine hundred batting at number three. His celebratory roar on reaching three figures might still be echoing around the Sinhalese Sports Club.

But after this game, Bairstow didn't seem disgruntled by being moved down the order. Perhaps he is and he was hiding it well. Perhaps his innings took some of the edge off any frustration he has. But it appeared from the post-match press conference that he is fine enough with the decision.

As he said, England's order has been, and will be, flexible in T20 cricket depending on the surface. He may be moved back up to open in the future. He also said batting at number four gives him the chance to play the finisher role which it appeared he quite liked the idea of. "I want to be playing cricket for England," he said. "I don't mind. As long as I am contributing, and putting in match-winning performances, whether that be opening the batting or batting at four, then so be it.

"You have two choices. You have got a choice whether you are a bit disgruntled by it or you use the experiences you have had previously and utilise them in the best way possible. I'm really happy where my game is at at the moment. I'd like to think the calmness and the composure which came across was really pleasing. Seeing England over the line is a huge part of the game because if you can be a finisher, batting at four, all of a sudden it becomes a very dangerous line-up."

No matter the rights and wrongs of shifting Bairstow down the order, this innings proved that he certainly has the required skills for number four. An ability to start fast is paramount in that role and he has it. He can take the game to the spinners too which is crucial in a middle-order player. There isn't an area of the ground he can't target, making it difficult to pin him down to one side of the wicket. He is used to playing the new ball for when he finds himself at the crease early.

Additionally, his game awareness is excellent. On two occasions, Bairstow somehow managed to open his wrists to guide wide full tosses from Hendricks over backward point for four, avoiding the men back on the off-side boundary who were in front of square. The bowler probably thought he had bowled to his field. Bairstow, however, was batting to a different beat.

As well as the control and the smarts, there was brutality and power. There are few batsmen in the world who ooze as much overt aggression as Bairstow does when he is in full flow. He seems to have added some upper body bulk of late and it shows. He hit four sixes in this innings, each of them to the leg-side, each of them relying more on muscle than timing or technique.

Bairstow's knock was the bright spot in what captain Eoin Morgan thought was a rusty overall performance from England. Without Bairstow's brilliance, they would have lost this match comfortably. Their bowling was disappointing, aside from Curran's excellent spell and glimpses of Jofra Archer's class, while the batting was strangely insipid at the outset which is so unlike them. Jason Roy's second-ball duck continued his poor recent form for England - he has 49 runs from his last seven international innings - while Buttler just never got going.

Not that any of that mattered given the sort of cold, calculating, destructive form Jonny Bairstow was in. When he plays like he did here, there are few better players in the world of white-ball cricket. In any position in the batting order.

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