Bairstow praise for fellow milestone man Lyth
JONNY BAIRSTOW described Adam Lyth as “the heartbeat of our dressing room” after he followed his Yorkshire team-mate to the proud milestone of 15,000 first-class runs.
Bairstow got there when he reached 88 in the first innings of the ongoing game against Surrey, the Yorkshire captain making 120 - his 32nd hundred on his 237th first-class appearance.
Lyth, who reached the 15,000 mark last year, scored 141 in the same innings - his 41st century in his 256th first-class match.
Rather than dwell on his own achievement – and his first three-figure score as Yorkshire captain – Bairstow paid tribute to Lyth, 38, who is two years his senior.
“It’s nice to score 15,000 but I think Lythy’s got 16-and-a-bit now and it just shows how consistent he’s been over such a long period,” said Bairstow. “He's still, in my opinion, one of the best players in the country and he just keeps going year after year.
“He’s the heartbeat of our dressing room. Every day he comes in, nothing changes. He just loves it and loves being around the lads. The energy he has is infectious. It's so important and integral for someone of his skill-set to be giving someone like Beany (Fin Bean) and Luxy (Will Luxton) and the younger guys an insight into how to score runs, whether that’s here or around the country.”
When pressed on his favourite memories from his own 15,000, Bairstow picked out two Yorkshire highlights. “I always remember there was a partnership Tim Bresnan and I put on at Durham,” he said, referring to an unbeaten 366 in 2015 that remains the highest for the seventh wicket in England. “There was also a partnership that Liam Plunkett and I had here against Hampshire,” referring to another seventh-wicket stand of 227 the following year, a game in which Bairstow hit a career-best 246.