Bairstow in the spotlight
Jonny Bairstow can't find a way into the England side at the moment but the memory of his early exploits still burns bright
ESPNcricinfo staff
05-Mar-2013
Jonny Bairstow can't find a way into the England side at the moment, not least because of the emergence of his fellow Yorkshireman Joe Root, but the memories of his early exploits, including 95 against South Africa at Lord's last summer, still burn bright. While he bides his time on the sidelines in New Zealand, he has spoken to Vithushan Ehantharajah in All Out Cricket about adjusting to the attention after hitting a ballistic 41 off 21 balls on ODI debut to secure victory over India in 2011:
"I was thrilled to win the game but the next couple of days were pretty special; people were suddenly taking an interest in me and asking me for interviews. It was a nice feeling. The flipside was that my profile rose and people who didn't know too much about me started to pay a bit more attention to how I was playing for Yorkshire. That in turn brought more comment on what I was doing for the Lions as well. It's more noticeable when you make the step up to play internationally; I mean, this was all from one knock. In any instance you can suddenly be shunted into the spotlight."