Jonny Bairstow, the experienced wicketkeeper batter, still wants to play for England even though he wasn’t picked for the current Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy and hasn’t heard from the selectors.
Bairstow hasn’t played for England in over a year. His last game was tough as he got a three-ball duck in England’s T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final loss to India.
Last year he was dropped from the Test team when they changed the red-ball squad. England had to make changes after losing to India 4-1. After playing his 100th Test in Dharamshala, he wasn’t selected again and England looked at other wicketkeepers.
Bairstow’s situation is weird because he has a central contract (which ends this October) but is low down the pecking order. Even though he doesn’t seem to be in head coach Brendon McCullum’s plans he still wants to get back. With the T20 World Cup 2026 coming up England’s new white-ball captain Harry Brook wants players who can handle the best bowlers and Bairstow thinks he’s one of them.
I still have a contract. I haven’t heard much from them, to be honest, but that’s how it goes. Harry Brook said he wants certain players who can beat the world’s best bowlers and I think I fit that description and have for a while, Bairstow told Sky Sports.
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I haven’t missed a game since I came back from my ankle injury which could have been worse. I’m happy to be playing a lot, even with the County Championship and The Hundred. I’m feeling good physically. The other things, like leadership, have presented different challenges, he added.
In the current Vitality Blast Men 2025 Bairstow has scored 177 runs in seven games for Yorkshire at 25.28 with a strike rate of 165.42. He’s also done well in the County Championship with Yorkshire scoring 595 runs at 49.58 and hitting nine sixes, the most among the top 20 run-scorers.
