Published: Jun 10, 2016, 12:06 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 10, 2016, 12:06 PM (IST)
Former Australia legend Adam Gilchrist was sending out compliments galore to England batsman Jonathan Bairstow as he feels he can see big future in the Test cricket for this gloves-man. England’s wicket-keeper Bairstow has been called ‘England’s answer to Adam Gilchrist’ and the man himself says he is a batsman for keeps for England. Bairstow has impressed cricketers with his unbeaten knock of 107 in Day 1 of 3 rd Test. It was not Gilchrist complimenting the young batsman but also Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie who has come out being vocal mentioning he saw ‘glimpses of what Gilly used to do.’ This is not the first Bairstow has scored his century; he scored 140 in the opening Test match against Sri Lanka and also took nine catches. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: England vs Sri Lanka , 3rd Test match at Lord’s
Gillespie mentioned on his column for Evening Standard, “Jonny Bairstow can do the same job for England that Adam Gilchrist did for Australia over so many years, without a doubt. Why not? There has been talk about accommodating both Jonny and Jos Buttler in the same Test team, but taking the gloves away from Jonny would be the silliest thing the selectors could do. You have to understand the person you’re dealing with and Jonny likes to be the main man, the focal point. He thrives on the responsibility of having the gloves and driving things out in the middle. That’s why I don’t see a place for Jos in the Test side right now.”
Gilchrist spoke to cricket.com.au and said, “Bairstow’s clearly more settled as a batsman when he’s wicket-keeping, and it’s certainly a situation I can relate to. To play just as a batsman, you can often feel a little bit half there, half not. Whereas if you’re focused on your wicket-keeping, your batting can relax and I suspect that’s the case with Bairstow. He could make that position, which has been a bit of a revolving door for England; he could make that his own for a while to come. He looks like a busy cricketer, a great team man. It’s no coincidence that a number of Yorkshire players have come out of that team where clearly there’s a great environment led by Jason Gillespie where they’re real team men because Dizzy was one of the greatest.” ALSO READ: Bairstow ticks off another career target
On the other hand, Gillespie has distanced himself from yet another coaching role for India as per the claims erupting in India about him applying for this role. BCCI are currently on a look for the perfect candidate to handle role of India’s Head Coach role. But Gillespie took to social media to again reaffirm his commitment to Yorkshire and the Adelaide Strikers. Gillespie denied the reports and took to Twitter about the same, “I have no plans to apply. I wish the BCCI all the best in securing the right candidate for the job. It would be a brilliant job however I’m not able to commit to the amount of travel involved at this point in time.”
He was caught in a similar fix about him heading the bowling coach role for Australia recently and he clearly denied those as well prioritising his role for Yorkshire at the moment.
