While both Bairstow and England have come a long way since then,Haddin recalled seeing frustration from England’s spearheads Stuart Broad and James Anderson whenever the Yorkshireman had been untidy with the gloves.
“He’s a quality player,and keeping wickets for England is not new to him,” Haddin said. “But I have seen on occasions,in Test matches I played,Broad and Anderson get very frustrated with his work behind the stumps.
“Jonny had to be in there but at the expense of Foakes,who I think is one of the better glovemen in world cricket,and he’s been a part of the turnaround of the England Test team. He missed a couple of Test matches because he was sick[in Pakistan],but before then he’s been one of their main players.”
Regardless,Bairstow’s ability to make centuries from No.7 creates a challenging lower-order opposite number for Alex Carey. After flourishing at home,Carey floundered in India withan approach that veered from sweep-at-all-costs to dour defence to a flailing slog in Ahmedabad,without success. An aggregate of 56 runs at 9.33 was a hard lesson for Carey,after averaging better than 44 in each of his previous four Test series.
Haddin,who has kept in touch with Carey after working closely with him on the 2019 World Cup and Ashes tour,said that a decisive approach to batting was key to his success.
“There were some tough conditions to bat in in India,and he was trying to get a game style that suited him,” Haddin said. “But the one thing he did well back in Australia with the bat is (that) he took the game on and looked like he had a really clear game plan,the way he wanted to play here.
“I think that game plan will be very similar in the UK,where he’s had success in the white-ball form with the bat. Kez (Carey) in India – that’s as well as I’ve seen an Australian keeper keep in those conditions. I thought his glovework was world-class.
“I remember touring England with him with the World Cup and Ashes series where he was the non-playing keeper on tour,and he worked a lot on his technique in tour games. He trusts his technique now a lot more when the ball is moving.”
Bairstow has had two Ashes series already as wicketkeeper,and while he performed well in Australia in 2017-18,including the aforementioned hundred in Perth,a somewhat diffident display at home in 2019 was disappointing,particularly after his barnstorming World Cup displays. At the time,Bairstow and others shared a sense of battle fatigue after the intensity of the Cup.
Tim Paine,by no means a match for Bairstow with the bat,was able to make nifty contributions at key times,while also claiming 46 dismissals to Bairstow’s 33 over those 10 Tests.
In the 2021-22 series in Australia,Carey did a similar job with handy batting cameos and sure gloves for the most part as England juggled Jos Buttler and Sam Billings. Bairstow,meanwhile,was recalled for the Sydney Test and conjured England’s only century of a woebegone series.
During a run of four consecutive Ashes wins in England between 1989 and 2001,Australia’s success was underpinned by the performances of Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist.
Match and series-shaping innings like Healy’s at Old Trafford or Edgbaston in 1993 and Trent Bridge in 1997,or Gilchrist’s at Edgbaston and Lord’s four years later,haven’t truly been sculpted by a wicketkeeper since Haddin.
Bairstow,scarred leg permitting,has been given the chance to add his own,in a commission that puts Carey on notice to do likewise.
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