Inside Edge: The Brendon McCullum-inspired reboot of Jonny Bairstow the Test cricketer

Jonny Bairstow emphatically embraced one of Brendon McCullum's favourite expressions during his staggering 92-ball 136 in the second Test at Trent Bridge: "Never fear the air - there are no fielders up there."

Yet perhaps even more striking was how Bairstow adhered to another McCullum diktat: to double down when on top of the bowlers.  

Four years ago, when McCullum was nearing the last throes of his playing career, he explained his Twenty20 philosophy. “Nothing s---- me more than boundary one – and everyone claps and it’s the old-school thinking. . . But to me you’ve passed up your opportunity to be able to win the game in that moment,” he said. Essentially, when a batsman is on top is the time to double down, rather than play low-risk cricket. “If I get a boundary early then I'm looking to try and press a huge over.” 

A hallmark of Bairstow’s heist at Trent Bridge was how, whenever he inserted the knife, he twisted it, too. His seven sixes all came within the space of 28 balls; on three separate occasions, Bairstow hit a bowler for a brace of sixes in the same over, including a sequence of six, six and four in three consecutive balls from Michael Bracewell. A greater antithesis to the ‘old-school thinking’ it would be hard to find. 

Ben Stokes said afterwards that the tell-tale signs of a great knock were evident immediately at the crease: “He had his ‘Jonny eyes’ on and when he gets those on you know you’re on to something." Bairstow not only won England a pulsating Test match with one of his country's greatest fourth innings centuries. He also suggested that, for the first time since Jos Buttler’s recall in 2018, he has found a settled role in the England Test side. 

As wicketkeeper in various positions, and as a