Jonny Bairstow credits England coach Brendon McCullum for his purple patch

England batter Jonny Bairstow has been in terrific form for England this summer, helping England win four consecutive Test matches in the last five innings he played. 

 After a horrible run in Test cricket for the last 18 months, the England Test side under newly appointed coach Brendon McCullum have turned things around, winning four consecutive Test matches.

Bairstow made 1, 16, 8, 136, 162, 71* against New Zealand, helping England win the three-match Test series by 3-0. He later went on to make centuries in both innings of the rescheduled 5th Test against India, which England won by pulling off a record-breaking 4th innings chase and drawing the series 2-2.

In a recent interview with the Tailenders podcast, Bairstow revealed the reasons behind his scintillating run with the bat a the new-look England side under the coach-captain duo of McCullum and Stokes. 

"It's the freedom we have now. We're not in hotel rooms, bubbles, having to do Covid tests every day and we can do normal things like go to the shop, go for a beer, see your friends and family," Bairstow told the Tailenders podcast.

Role clarity under new head coach

Bairstow missed the initial phase of the County Championship due to his IPL commitment with Punjab Kings. As a result, the right-hander had just two net sessions before the first Test of the summer. However, McCullum assured him that his place in the Test team was safe, despite him missing the initial phase of the red ball season with Yorkshire.

"All of those things accumulate together and obviously the excitement of working with Baz (McCullum) and the clarity he gave everyone."

"Before we played New Zealand, there was chat about going to the IPL and not playing county cricket but Baz phoned me, said I was batting five in the Tests, to get my head around it and crack on," Bairstow said.

"Baz also spoke to me a bit about imposing myself on the game - nothing technical. That can be tricky in red-ball cricket because you don't want to look like you're slogging," he added.

"I had two nets before the first game so finding the balance was interesting. I played a shot-a-ball at Lord's (scoring one and 16) which didn't go down too well and then found the balance better at Trent Bridge," he concluded.