Jonny Bairstow will follow within the footsteps of his late father David after agreeing to grow to be Yorkshire’s red-ball captain, with Dawid Malan taking up the T20 side.
The White Rose have held off officially installing Bairstow until the week before the beginning of the county season, with the 35-year-old having previously held out hopes of featuring within the Pakistan Super League or Indian Premier League, but he’s now signed as much as spearhead the club’s return to Division One.
David Bairstow held the role for 3 years between 1984-87 and his son has picked up the baton almost 4 a long time later.
“He played here for 20 years and was captain as well. There’s not many fathers and sons who’ve done it,” said Bairstow.
“The county is embedded in my heart, and I take immense pride in representing the club on the sector. To now have the ability to do this as captain, in what can be an exciting season, is an actual honour.
“In the event that they’d have asked me 10 years ago I’d have done it. How are you going to not? It’s considered one of the most important clubs on the earth and it’s a really difficult thing to show down.”
Captaincy Experience
Despite vast experience in the sport, including 100 Tests and 187 limited-overs internationals, Bairstow’s senior captaincy experience extends to a solitary T20 match in 2015 and two games at Welsh Fire within the Hundred.
Asked what type of leader he can be, he said: “I’ve played with an enormous array of various captains over a protracted time frame going back to Mags (Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath), Andrew Strauss, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, and also you’re in a position to pick up various things throughout the journey.
“But I’ll do it in my very own individual way and, whether that is true or fallacious, that’s OK.”
As for Malan, once rated the world’s primary T20 batter and a World Cup winner within the format in 2022, the duty is to deliver Yorkshire’s first trophy within the Vitality Blast.
International Window Closed
At 37 he is prepared to present the job his full focus, having accepted his international days are over – albeit prematurely in his eyes.
“Do I still think I used to be ok to play last yr? Yeah, I do,” he said.
“Someone gets paid a whole lot of money to make those decisions and so they decided otherwise. But I believe an excessive amount of in English cricket is made about ages, not likely about performances.
“I probably didn’t rating as many runs as I’d have liked within the T20 stuff for somewhat period, but in 50-over cricket I believe the last yr, year-and-a-half, I performed in every series.
“Time moves on. In case you’re going to look back at every decision with regret or with bad or unwell thoughts, it’s going to be a lonely world.
“I enjoyed my time with England but my time is finished and my time has now been putting every thing that I even have and I can into Yorkshire.”
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