Perth: Tales of Jonny Bairstow’s headbutting ncident left Australia captain Steve Smith giggling like a schoolboy just weeks ago, but the wicket-keeper batsman’s maiden Ashes century here Friday allowed England skipper Joe Root the last laugh.
Bairstow gently tapped his helmet against his head upon reaching the century milestone to the delight of Root and his teammates who jubilantly roared their support in the dressing room.
The wicketkeeper-batsman said his celebration was a bit of ‘light-hearted, fun’ in reference to the October night out where he greeted Australia opener Cameron Bancroft with a headbutt at a bar.
Bairstow felt he had been ‘stitched up’ by Australia and that the event had been blown completely out of proportion. So he celebrated emotionally at the WACA after pulling Mitchell Marsh behind square for a single to reach his ton.
“The hundred, in many ways, was my favourite one,” the 28-year-old told reporters. “I’ve played in a few Ashes series so far now and to score an Ashes century is something you dream about as a kid. It was really good fun out there, I absolutely loved every single minute of it.”
However, England failed to cash in on Bairstow’s effort, losing their last six wickets for 35 runs. Bairstow, however, felt England remained well-placed in the match, despite the late batting collapse in the morning session.
“You can look at it both ways and say, look, it was a fantastic recovery from being 100 for four and we’ve got 400 on the board,” he said. “Or you can look at it and go, ‘yeah, well, we’ve let the position slip’. But I think we have the capable to take five-six wickets in a session also when the game resumes, Saturday.”
Reuters