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Today, new writer Tom Chambers discusses Jonny Bairstow\u2019s inevitable return to England\u2019s Test side. Will Zak Crawley be the man to make way? It\u2019s far from clear cut. <\/em><\/p>\n Brendon McCullum made a rod for his own back when speaking to the BBC\u2019s Test Match Special team back in December. When asked about a certain Yorkshireman\u2019s eventual return from injury the New Zealander said, \u201cAs soon as he\u2019s fit he\u2019s back in the side, no doubt. But let\u2019s work that out down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n With the first Ashes test due to start at Edgbaston in just four months\u2019 time, the prospective return of Jonny Bairstow is looming larger by the day. McCullum does not seem like a man capable of going back on his word, so just who will he decide to leave out now that Bairstow\u2019s return is guaranteed? The collective and individual performances of England\u2019s Test team in Pakistan and New Zealand this winter have made that decision possibly the most difficult and important of McCullum\u2019s tenure so far.<\/p>\n A quick glance at the numbers from Bairstow\u2019s golden summer last year offers a clear reason of why England\u2019s Test head coach is so keen to find a place in his team for the 33-year-old. But McCullum\u2019s England are not a team that worships at the alter of batting averages and run rates. This is a team of positive energy, of attitude, of \u2018vibes\u2019 \u2013 and therein lies the problem. The current group of players have created an almost perfect professional environment, trying to squeeze more productivity out of them could easily have the opposite effect.<\/p>\n Every England supporter has asked themselves the question of who Bairstow will come in for and it seems that nobody can quite agree. The prospect of Bairstow slotting back into his role at number five in the order is a non-starter. Having scored an accumulated 548 runs over the course of his last six innings with a frankly ridiculous strike rate of 98.77, Harry Brook has not just built a case for keeping his place in the middle order, he has fortified it with high walls and bunkers and trenches. Don\u2019t even try it Jonny.<\/p>\n For a while it had seemed as though the easiest option was for Bairstow to take Ben Foakes\u2019 place in the team and either hand the gloves to Ollie Pope or wear them himself. But having made a succession of vital contributions with the bat from his position in the lower middle order, Foakes has become the figurative keystone in England\u2019s \u2018Bazball\u2019 redemption arc. The Surrey wicketkeeper\u2019s outstanding glovework and unique ability to stand up to the stumps for the bowling of all but the nippiest of England\u2019s seamers are also qualities not to be overlooked. The team just seems more balanced, more nuanced, with Foakes as part of it.<\/p>\n When Bairstow makes his return to this team it is likely going to be in a different role to the one he vacated after suffering a freak ankle injury on the third hole at the Panaal golf course back in September. Could we see the Stokes\/McCullum thinktank produce its most audacious move yet and send a middle order berserker in to open the batting? It\u2019s a tantalising thought and one that will give Zak Crawley sleepless nights as he reflects on his struggles in Mount Maunganui and Wellington.<\/p>\n Crawley is a curious phenomenon. He routinely wanders back to the England changing room with his bat under his arm having contributed very little to England\u2019s total, but my word does he look good in the short time he\u2019s out there. Perhaps Crawley is the most \u2018vibes\u2019 cricketer in the most \u2018vibes\u2019 cricket team; a walking talking lava lamp \u2013 integral to setting just the right mood but offering little practical benefit. But in the clear light of day, this is the England cricket team in 2023 and if you\u2019re not regularly scoring three figures at a strike rate of 85.00 then you\u2019re bringing us all down, man \u2013 just ask Alex Lees.<\/p>\n Bairstow has pedigree opening the batting for England in ODI\u2019s, including during England\u2019s victorious World Cup campaign in 2019. In that tournament Bairstow averaged 48 with a highest score of 111 and let\u2019s face it, since McCullum took the reins, England have been approaching Test matches as if they were being played with a white ball.<\/p>\n In many ways the Bairstow question is a good problem to have. There are plenty of teams in world cricket who would like the option of fielding a batter who scored more than 1000 test runs last year. Only in English cricket could the return of someone like that be seen as a problem. It\u2019s reminiscent of the early 2010\u2019s when the biggest issue was that Ian Bell didn\u2019t convert his fifties into hundreds quite as regularly as every other batter on the team. As McCullum would go on to say in his chat with the BBC: \u201cIt\u2019s a much better place to be than scrambling around for blokes!\u201d<\/p>\n By confirming the safety of Jonny Bairstow\u2019s place in the line-up (injury permitting) heading into this summer\u2019s Ashes series, the head coach of England\u2019s test team has backed himself into a corner. But then again, that\u2019s just how he likes it \u2013 now he can come out swinging.<\/p>\n Tom Chambers<\/em><\/p>\n @TomChambersTC<\/a><\/p>\nRelated<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n