Jonny Bairstow is on the path to greatness

The most astounding thing about Jonny Bairstow’s 44-ball 71 not out on the fifth day at Leeds, to help England hurtle towards their chase of 296, was its sense of inevitability. 

Then again, this innings merely ranked a distant third among Bairstow’s most remarkable Test innings of the past fortnight, during which he has found a rarefied level of batting, combining swagger and power with extraordinary control and calm. There has been a transcendent quality to Bairstow’s batting, an indomitability of the ilk that most leading batsmen only access a handful of times; he has stayed there for three consecutive innings.

This wonderful sequence - 136 off 92 balls in the run chase at Trent Bridge; 162 off 157 balls to lift England from the debris of 55-6 to a first innings 360 at Headingley; and then the encore to finish the job - not only secured England a 3-0 series whitewash over New Zealand. It has also opened the tantalising prospect of Bairstow establishing himself as a modern great of the English game.

Traditionally, Test runs have been the currency of English batting greatness. But when Eoin Morgan retires from the international game on Tuesday, he will do so as the first England cricketer to achieve this elevated status without thriving in Test cricket. 

Morgan is the tenth member of England’s 10,000-run club, across the international formats. The other nine - Joe Root, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart, David Gower, Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick - all scored the majority of their runs in Tests.  

Bairstow is now just 117 runs - or a few overs batting, if you prefer - away from becoming England’s 11th member of the 10,000 Club. It is an opportune moment to consider his wider