Joe Root expects Jonny Bairstow to thrive off the Lord's controversy in the Headingley Test

That Bairstow will have a point to prove, a score to settle, a wrong to right seems almost as inevitable as the pre-match toss.

Rarely, though, in a career blighted by selection disappointments, criticism of his batting technique and wicketkeeping skill, has the Yorkshireman had as much of an axe to grind as he will on Thursday when the third Test begins at his home ground of Headingley.

Knowing Bairstow, he will bury said axe in the skulls of the Australian cricket team who stumped him opportunistically in the Lord’s Test and, say many, in a manner that was contrary to the spirit, if not the laws of the game.

Joe Root, who knows him better than most, is predicting that Bairstow will use the controversy.

“Jonny does thrive off things like this and has done previously,” said Root.

“You go back to Edgbaston last year (when Bairstow scored a century in each innings in a win against India).

“Someone said something to him, I think it was Virat (Kohli), and it brought the best out of him. Let’s hope it happens again.

“Playing at his home ground, I’m sure he’ll be wanting to entertain the crowd. It’s set up nicely for him, but you’ve still got to go and do it.

“You can bet your bottom dollar that he’ll have the bit between his teeth this week.”

For the benefit of anyone just back from Pluto, Bairstow was involved in a heated exchange on the final day at Lord’s when he left his crease wrongly believing that an over was complete and the ball was dead.

Alex Carey, the wicketkeeper, under-armed the ball on to the stumps and Australia chose not to withdraw the appeal at a vital time in England’s ultimately unsuccessful run-chase.

The fallout has dominated the build-up to Leeds, with the Prime Minister of both nations getting involved and Sir Geoffrey Boycott going as far to say that Australia should issue a public apology.

Ben Stokes, the England captain whose magnificent 155 was all in vain as Australia won by 43 runs to go 2-0 up with three Tests to play, said later that he would not have pursued the appeal - a position on which Root doubled-down.

“Ben spoke very well on it at the end of the game,” said Root. “As a team, we want to play our cricket a certain way and we want to leave a certain legacy. To be honest, I can’t believe how much has been covered on it.

“I try to put myself in that situation, in that position, and I’d like to think I’d have dealt with it very differently.

“Jonny didn’t gain advantage by doing what he did, and as a batter you’re fully aware, when you’re batting out of your crease, for example, that you are for a number of different reasons gaining an advantage, whether it’s covering different angles, trying to take modes of dismissal out of the game, rather than scratching your mark back at the end of an over and then walking up towards the other end. It’s divided opinion, but the way to respond is to put it into your performance.”

Root went on: “As a player, it’s up to you how you want to play the game, how you want to be remembered; that’s up to each individual. We would have done things slightly differently - we would have called him back - but there’s always something (controversial) within these big series and this is it, I guess.”

Asked how Bairstow reacted, with footage having gone viral of him giving Pat Cummins, the Australia captain, a so-called “death stare” during the post-match handshakes, Root said: “I don’t think he took it great. I don’t think anyone would, would they really?

“As I say, from his perspective, he wasn’t gaining any advantage; it wasn’t like he was at the non-striker’s end and trying to sneak a run, so he’s felt a little bit hard done by and I don’t think anyone will be leaving their crease this week.”

Root added it was time for “everyone to move on and concentrate on this game” and he had this message for the Yorkshire public when asked “what kind of behaviour” they should bring to the match.

Something a little more civilised than the hooligan element of MCC members in the Long Room, hopefully, as Root said simply: “Support England. I think that’s the most important thing. You come to support your nation.

“It doesn’t need to go beyond that; it should never go beyond that. Everyone should be here to enjoy the cricket. That’s what it should be about. It shouldn’t be about anything other than that.

“So, come here and support your team, and do it to the best of your ability, and we’ll play to the best of ours.

“Create that brilliant atmosphere that’s been created at this ground on so many previous occasions like in 2019, and we should have a fantastic week.”