Yorkshire CCC star Jonny Bairstow relishing the captaincy and start of new season
JONNY BAIRSTOW has done most things in cricket and got the T-shirts to prove it. His appointment as Yorkshire captain last season was another string to his bow and a stimulating honour at this stage of his career.
As he gears up for his second season in charge, his remit now extended to the white-ball leadership following Dawid Malan’s departure from the club, Bairstow said he had thoroughly enjoyed it as he looks to steer Yorkshire from strength to strength.
“I definitely enjoyed it - it was a different type of challenge,” he said of the captaincy.
“I’d not done a huge amount of it, and it was also about just being authentic to myself with it.
“There were times where I definitely know that I didn’t get everything right, but that’s part and parcel of it.
"You don’t get everything right.
“I think one of the biggest bits for me is just the personal side of things.
"It’s just been making sure the lads are OK and just that personal side and those personal touches, just checking in with the lads and stuff like that.
“Because if they’re happy and they’re fit, wanting to do well, then generally they take that from within the dressing room and out on the field. It generally comes out on there.”
A happy camp is a successful camp, in other words.
It was a camp that grew increasingly happy and successful as the season wore on following a challenging start to life back in the First Division of the County Championship.
“Last year, I think it was a bit of a surprise as to how it was in Division One, and the difference between Division One and Two, which is a big difference,” said Bairstow.
“That was a little bit of a shock to the system. However, the way in which people then regathered themselves, the momentum that the lads got through the 50-over comp, which then led into the back end of the summer, was impressive.
“To finish like we did against Durham (when Yorkshire won their final match of the season by an innings at Headingley), and to show the composure and the want and the grit to bowl a good team out in the fashion that we did, showed to us that we are a good team within this division.
“To do what we did on the last day of that game (Yorkshire sent Durham crashing from 25-0 to 85 all-out as George Hill and Dom Bess each took four wickets to wrap up victory) is a really good sign for us as a group.”
Bairstow, 36, adapted seamlessly to the challenge of juggling the captaincy with his batting and wicketkeeping.
It also gave him a slightly different perspective.
“It’s given me something different to focus on, without a doubt,” he added.
“That’s not to say that it’s affected me in terms of scoring runs, or keeping wicket; there’s nothing detracted from that.
"But it’s definitely good to see it from a different side of things.
“You see it through a slightly different lens.
"You have difficult conversations with people on a more regular basis, which is healthy, and you also learn from that because sometimes they fire back at you and you’re like, ‘I wasn’t expecting that one’, so you’ve got to deal with that.
“But it’s great seeing the younger guys come through and flourish, and also trying to aid them to try and understand as to why it’s a bit more difficult to flourish in certain bits (of games), and just understanding game scenarios and situations better.”
A captain is only as good as his players, of course, and especially his bowlers.
Yorkshire have been busy on the recruitment front this winter, making seven signings all told, with Bairstow pleased with the strength in depth.
“It’s certainly strong,” he said. “We’ve made some really good signings in my opinion.
"Obviously, losing a couple of the guys that we did last year, we knew that we had to add to the squad and in the right way.
“I genuinely believe that we’ve done that with the likes of (Jhye) Richardson, the likes of (Sam) Whiteman, the list is quite extensive now.
“When we were really successful here in the past, it was all about creating competition within the squad, and competition within the squad drives people on to get better, drives people on to improve on the field, off the field, and creates a competitive edge which is good.
“Because if you don’t have those people below, you become comfortable and slightly complacent, and we haven’t necessarily had that competition for places at the club in recent times.
“And that’s not the lads’ fault. That’s nobody’s fault of their own, because the club has been going through a bit more of a transition phase.
“However, now is a great time because certain players have got something like 50-odd games under their belt, and they’ve been through a lot of hardship with things that we don’t need to mention.
"It’s all looking very positive now as we head into the season.”