Jonny Bairstow says he could be “stupid” to not assume an England recall is feasible this yr as he appears to place his title in rivalry with robust performances at Yorkshire.
With 100 Take a look at caps and a World Cup winner’s medal to name his personal, Bairstow is one in every of his era’s most adorned gamers however finds himself on the surface wanting in on the eve of the county season.
He misplaced his England shirt in all three codecs final yr and has not featured in a squad because the T20 World Cup final June.
However the 35-year-old, who nonetheless has six months left on the two-year England deal he signed in 2023, has not given up on discovering a means again.
Requested if he was considering of a global recall, he mentioned: “I am nonetheless contracted. I might be silly to not.
“However it’s not my selection. That bit is totally out of my management. I can load the gun, however I will not be the one pulling the set off. We’ll wait and see on that. You’ll be able to solely rating the runs and put your self into the barrel.
“The entire function of all the things is to attempt to play for England, and that would be the problem. As an exile, prefer it was put, and somebody who hasn’t performed for nonetheless lengthy, it is one thing that you simply need to get again to and that comes by scoring runs.
“I’ll be playing the County Championship at the start of the year, hopefully score a load of runs and let the rest take care of itself.”
A bunch of wicketkeeper-batters have been known as up by England since Bairstow final featured, together with his direct substitute Jamie Smith and the uncapped pair of Jordan Cox and Ollie Robinson.
However he has no qualms about his personal CV, which boasts 23 worldwide centuries together with notable knocks in opposition to the very groups who await England in a make-or-break yr of Take a look at cricket.
“It was just mentioned around form, really,” he mentioned of the messaging round his dropping.
Jonny Bairstow is on an ECB central contract, which is about to run out this October
“That’s obviously subjective, people’s opinions or what have you, and that’s fine. This is obviously a big summer with India, then Australia coming up.
“My numbers in opposition to these two groups, particularly in England and on the final couple of excursions of Australia, have been good.
“The last time India toured here, not too bad. So we’ll wait and see what happens. First and foremost my job is to concentrate on Yorkshire, and make sure we get off to a good start to the year.”
