England must be bold and back Bairstow for looming pace test

“BAIRSTOW simply cannot play against the might of South Africa unless he proves conclusively he can handle the short stuff.”

So proclaimed Steve James, the former Glamorgan and England batsman, in his newspaper column after Bairstow was given a torrid working over by the West Indies pace bowlers on only his second Test appearance at Trent Bridge in May.

Bairstow scored four runs from 17 balls and faced a hostile spell from Kemar Roach, who had him caught at mid-on off a leading edge.

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It prompted James, along with other esteemed observers, to contend that the Yorkshireman had to demonstrate his capacity to cope with the short delivery to justify retaining his place for the South Africa series, which starts on Thursday week.

At the time of writing, James was anticipating that Bairstow would get that chance during the third and final Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston.

However, that match was badly rain-affected, and Bairstow had little opportunity to prove a point during his solitary innings of 18, ended when he was bowled by his former Yorkshire team-mate Tino Best.

Since then, Bairstow has played nothing but limited-overs cricket due to the madness of a county schedule in which there has been no County Championship cricket for a month.

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In other words, he has not been able to “prove conclusively” that he can handle the short stuff ahead of next weekend’s squad announcement for the first Test against South Africa at The Oval, although the paucity of genuine pace in the shires means he could only really do that in Test cricket in any case.

Instead, as Bairstow has travelled back and forth from England’s 50-over squad to Yorkshire’s Twenty20 squad, going up and down the country more often than the Olympic Torch, two players who have had the chance to prove their worth in general terms are Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan.

Bopara, whose thigh injury paved the way for Bairstow to play against the West Indies in the first place, has scored good runs on his return, while Morgan has also prospered in the one-day arena.

With South Africa possessing a fearsome pace attack spearheaded by Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, it would be a brave man who bets on Bairstow retaining his Test spot.

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However, as one who has watched the entirety of his fledgling career, as well as sufficient innings from Bopara and Morgan to inform a judgement, I would urge England to keep faith with the Yorkshireman and give him the chance to show that he can indeed handle the short material, plus anything else that might be thrown at him.

Although Bopara and Morgan are quality players, both have had their opportunities at Test level, and it is my view – regardless of Bairstow’s performances against the West Indies – that they are no more likely than him to succeed against South Africa.

Bopara lost his place when he failed to perform against an inferior pace attack in the form of Australia in 2009, while Morgan lost his spot during the winter after a wretched series against Pakistan.

Many feel Bopara deserves his chance because he was next cab off the rank prior to his thigh injury and because Bairstow did not get runs against the West Indies.

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But is Bopara any more likely to combat Steyn and Morkel, any more capable of playing the type of match-winning innings Bairstow could play?

I would suggest not, and having put their faith in Bairstow, I think England should be bold enough to stick with him again. And if it is a risk to play him against the South Africans, it is surely a risk to play Bopara too.

Unless Bairstow is given a chance to combat Steyn and Morkel, it would be unfair to write him off as having a problem against short-pitched bowling.

The evidence, at this stage, is flimsy at best, and there has been no suggestion of a problem in the past.

Bairstow is an exceptionally talented young player.

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There were bound to have been butterflies against the West Indies and he is the sort of character who will be itching to fight back, itching to prove that he has got what it takes to succeed at the highest level.

So I would stick with Bairstow for the South Africa series.

If there are still issues after that, then he will have to go away and work on them; if he succeeds, then neither Bairstow nor England are likely to look back.

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