Bairstow was gutted after his dismissal in Lord's Test [Source: AP]
A key contributor to England's Test success with 'BazBall' has been keeper-batter Jonny Bairstow, who ransacked runs last summer. England will need their talismanic batter to step up to the plate once again and perform against all odds in the third Ashes 2023 Test against Australia, which starts today at Headingley in Leeds.
Meanwhile, England skipper Ben Stokes has backed Bairstow to come back harder after the whole run-out fiasco at Lord's ahead of the all-important Headingley Test.
Interestingly, Bairstow is slotted to bat in the No.5 position, where he has enjoyed considerable success. In 2022, the swashbuckling batter stockpiled 681 runs at an average of 75.66, with four centuries, while batting in the same position.
Here's what Stokes said
"That's where he performed his miracles last summer. Jonny is someone who wants to get in the game and we feel he offers his best things to the team when he is in the game. He is a superstar and the quicker we can get him into the game the better for him as an individual and the better we are as a team."
As quoted by India Today, Stokes explained that Bairstow takes criticism in the right spirit and is eager to perform on the field importantly.
"Jonny is fine. We have seen in the past that after any sort of criticism of himself he has always managed to do something. If he uses what happened last week as some kind of inspiration to get the best out of himself, who knows?"
"I said before training that whatever you need to do as individuals, do it. I don't think we can galvanise as a group any more than we have. There has been a lot of noise about the incident at Lord's but the best thing everyone can do is move on."
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In the ongoing Ashes 2023, the 33-year-old has scored 124 runs in two Tests, including a fifty at Edgasbton.
 "Vishal Mehra")
