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He made his first Shield century since February 2021 while Jack Clayton made 96 and Michael Neser was promoted to No. 5

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2023A classy Joe Burns century put Queensland in the box seat against Tasmania on the opening day of the Sheffield Shield match in Hobart.The 34-year-old was unbeaten on 127 at stumps with allrounder Michael Neser also in ominous form, as the Bulls reached 293 for 3 after the hosts elected to field at Blundstone Arena.It was the first Sheffield Shield century in 980 days for former Test batter Burns. His previous ton was at the same venue against the same opposition on February 18, 2021, with Burns making 171 in the first innings of a match Queensland won by three wickets.Related

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Batting at No. 3 on Thursday, Burns unfurled the full array of strokes from his repertoire against the Tasmanians and brought up his 20th first-class century from 213 deliveries.He had previously failed to reach 50 in all of his 11 first-class innings for Queensland in 2023.Burns and left-hander Jack Clayton added 187 for the third wicket after openers Bryce Street and Matt Renshaw both fell cheaply as the Bulls slumped to 10 for 2.Burns drove through the covers and behind point off the seamers with grace and control. A late cut from the bowling of offspinner Jarrod Freeman took him into the 90s and was a shot full of class. Burns was equally strong on the leg side and looked every bit the former Test batter who boasts four centuries at the highest level.Queensland were without Test opener Usman Khawaja for the second time in as many Shield games after he was again rested by Cricket Australia to manage his workload.Clayton had made 109 against Victoria in his last Shield innings and was looking good for consecutive centuries. But a short ball by Brad Hope hurried on to the 24-year-old and he spliced his pull shot straight to mid-on. Clayton made 96 off 175 balls in an innings that featured 10 boundaries.In-form allrounder Neser was promoted to No. 5 for the first time in his first-class career and was given a life on 5 when Jordan Silk uncharacteristically dropped a sitter at slip off Freeman.Neser rode his luck but played with aggression. In the closing overs, Tasmania had nine fielders on the fence, but Neser continued to try to clobber just about each delivery he faced.

Rob Keogh all-round efforts in vain on the Isle of Wight

ECB Reporters Network09-Aug-2022Jack Campbell pulled Hampshire to an unlikely comeback victory as the fast bowler routed Northamptonshire Steelback’s lower order on the Isle of Wight.The Steelbacks needed only 24 runs in their pursuit of 200 with five wickets in hand but collapsed in a heap to lose by 11 runs.Left-arm quick Campbell, who was released by Durham in June, took three for 17, including two in two balls, before John Turner bundled out the last wicket to dismiss Northamptonshire for 188 to continue Hampshire’s perfect start to the Royal London Cup.Rob Keogh had run the game in front of 2,000 strong crowd at Newclose with a career-best three for 32 coupled with an authoritative 74, before Hampshire’s late show.Northamptonshire had the chase in complete control as Hampshire returned to the Isle of Wight for the first time since 2019.Ricardo Vasconcelos’ poor form continued when he was lbw to a Keith Barker awayswinger second ball. Will Young soon followed as Scott Currie extracted some bounce to second slip.But Emilio Gay and Keogh settled the innings with style, adding 52 runs. Keogh was imperious throughout. He cracked three fours in succession off Currie, beginning with a crunching slapped cut shot to get his innings moving. Everything seemed simple for Keogh as he reached his fifty in 57 balls.Every time Northamptonshire appeared to be cantering to victory, a wicket would add a sense of jitters. Gus Miller had been carefree for 31 but smashed to cover, while Ben Curran stuttered before another ball stopped in the pitch as he offered a simple caught and bowled for Currie.With 23 runs still needed, Keogh was another victim of the two-paced pitch and was caught at mid-off before the previously economical Campbell snared Nathan Buck and Ben Sanderson in successive deliveries to alter the momentum completely.James Sales was yorked by Campbell before a short-pitched Turner delivery was skied to point to complete Hampshire’s fightback.
Earlier, Nick Gubbins made no hesitation when he chose to bat on a brilliantly hot day and on a pitch which gave the impression of being perfect for batting. It quickly proved otherwise.Instead of speeding through, the ball stuck in the wicket to make it hard to time the ball. Aneurin Donald was the first to find this out when he guided the 12th ball of the match to point before Gubbins edged to second slip in the following over.Ben Brown was leg before to a low bouncing Nathan Buck delivery having put on 45 with Tom Prest before Fletcha Middleton aided the recovery with a speedy 51-run partnership.Prest, on the back of a superb 181 against Kent Spitfires, peppered the offside as he played the ball as late as he dared. His timing was proved with a straight drive early on and continued with late cuts.His pièce de résistance was a skip and elegant drive over extra cover to bring up his half-century in 54 balls but fell to the following delivery when Alex Russell beguiled him in the flight and the ball ended up in extra cover’s hands.Middleton had accumulated 35 before Keogh started to turn the screw. The off-spinner pinned down a concrete-footed Middleton and then had Felix Organ caught and bowled off a full toss four balls later.Keogh added a third when he bowled the top of Toby Albert’s off stump as Hampshire’s middle order fumbled without finding meaningful partnerships.Barker, on his white-ball debut for Hampshire, provided some late innings runs with 38 but the Steelbacks refused to let the game get away from them as Jack White had Barker top edging to deep square and Campbell edging behind. When Currie was undone by a Buck short ball, Hampshire were bowled out for 199 with 57 balls left unused.

Martin Guptill returned to form with 97 while Jimmy Neesham had a key impact with bat and ball

Daniel Brettig25-Feb-2021New Zealand effectively won this game twice. For most of the day they dominated Australia with the bat and then the ball, to a point when the game looked to be heading for an early finish. Left in a hopeless position, Marcus Stoinis and Daniel Sams chanced their arms to close things up to a realistic scenario, only to lose their poise when the way to victory had re-opened, allowing Kane Williamson’s men to hold their nerve in the tight finish that eventuated.New Zealand’s momentum began with an overdue return to runs for Martin Guptill, swinging sweetly through the full ball as though on the golf course, with a pair of terrific supporting innings from Williamson and Jimmy Neesham – he and Guptill coshed no fewer than 14 sixes in Dunedin’s first game between Australia and New Zealand since 2000.The Australia chase began fairly, stuttered and collapsed at the hands of Mitchell Santner, before getting the latest of revivals from Stoinis and Sams. Spectacular as their hitting was – tallying nine sixes between them in a brief space of overs – it could not be sustained when the finish line loomed. Australia got closer than they might have expected at 113 for 6, but the 2-0 series margin after two games is undoubtedly a fair one.Guptill finds his driving rangeNot since October had Guptill passed 50 in any format at first-class level; not since November 2019 had he done so in a T20I. What he needed after such a lengthy dry spell was some favourable conditions and friendly bowling, and by sending New Zealand in at University Oval and then serving up a steady diet of full balls well within his hitting zone, Australian obliged. Guptill’s first ball, from Sams, was a half volley that skated to the cover boundary. His first from Jhye Richardson was another half volley that sailed back over the bowler’s head.With that, Guptill was more or less away. He was to clear the boundary no fewer than eight times, six of them in the arc between mid-off and wide mid-on, with another two hooked powerfully behind square leg. At his most destructive, Guptill crashed 34 runs from eight balls to move from 58 to 92. In the same period, New Zealand hammered 65 runs between overs 10 and 13 and set themselves up for a tally well and truly beyond 200. The aforementioned dry spell was well and truly over, replaced by a Dunedin deluge.Williamson, Neesham maintain the rageAs Guptill was detonating in such spectacular fashion, Williamson played with his typical combination of intelligence, calm and just enough invention. At 13 from 16 balls while operating in Guptill’s slipstream, Williamson had got himself set, and was duly able to “catch-up” by clouting 37 runs from his next 16 for a 32-ball half century. Among Williamson’s more impressive moments was when he read a Jhye Richardson slower ball out of the hand and then set himself up perfectly to slog sweep it, as if delivered by a spinner, into the crowd at midwicket.At the other end, Neesham walked out as though he was already well and truly set, dispatching his first two balls for towering sixes and then seldom letting up thereafter. New Zealand’s momentum was briefly held up when Jhye Richardson won a generous interpretation of the “tramlines” for wides to contribute to Glenn Phillips’ exit, but Neesham and Tim Southee combined to ransack 20 from Sams’ closing over of the innings and ensure the hosts made the highest T20I total in matches between these countries at venues other than Eden Park.Marcus Stoinis brought Australia back in the contest in thrilling style•Getty Images

Touring top order find the fieldersAustralia’s chase got off to a reasonable start. The ball did not swing much for Southee and Trent Boult, Matthew Wade found the boundary and Aaron Finch was given the chance to start steadily: 33 for 0 after three overs compared very favourably to New Zealand’s 20 for 0 at the same stage. But from there the hosts were able to tighten things steadily with the help of scoreboard pressure, while at the same time the Australians felt the net closing in on them.Wade, trying a back foot punch, failed to clear Williamson at mid-off; Finch, having spent 13 balls over 12, picked out midwicket when trying to clear the boundary off the bowling of Ish Sodhi; last and perhaps most pivotally given his abilities, Glenn Maxwell tried to reverse slog sweep his first ball from Santner and found Sodhi, leaping at short third man. At 87 for 3 in the 11th over, the innings was losing momentum in spite of a nice start from Josh Philippe in his second international, and the lower middle order was being left with an enormous task.Stoinis and Sams rearguard falls shortBack in 2017, Stoinis announced himself as an international cricketer of note by cracking 146 from 117 balls in an ODI at Eden Park that had appeared a lost cause before he took his team within a handful of runs. There were undoubted parallels four years later in Dunedin, as Stoinis sized up a chase that had reached the realms of the decidedly implausible. With six overs remaining, the visitors required 98 runs and had just four wickets in hand, as Stoinis and Sams conferred.Their response was to swing for the fences with a clarity that had been missing up to that point, as 62 runs piled up in the space of three overs: courtesy of sixes sixes and four fours in that time to take the equation back to 36 from three overs. A superbly tight 18th over from Boult, and a fortuitous deflection of a Sams drive from the umpire Chris Gaffaney, gave New Zealand 30 runs to play with from the final two overs, then 15 off the last, bowled by Neesham.Sams and Stoinis struggled a little to hit full tosses in these closing overs, and it was one such ball that Neesham coaxed Sams to miscue to deep midwicket. Two more dots – including a declined single – made it 15 off three. Stoinis middled the fourth ball to leave nine from two, but when he shanked the fifth to be out for 78, the day belonged to New Zealand.

No recall for Moeen Ali, whose international break has been extended with a view to returning for Sri Lanka tour

George Dobell07-Dec-2019James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood have all been included in a 17-man squad for England’s Test tour of South Africa.Anderson and Wood missed the New Zealand tour due to injury, while Bairstow was dropped to allow him time to work on his red-ball game. All three are already in South Africa as part of a training squad.While Wood is not currently deemed fit for selection, the England management hope he will recover sufficiently to play some part in the series. He was player of the match in the only Test he played in 2019, England’s victory in St Lucia.Also read: England keep ‘watching brief’ as chaos mounts in South AfricaBut there is no recall for Moeen Ali. Moeen, who requested an extended break from the Test team after struggling during the English summer, has held discussions with the England management in recent days with the conclusion that he should be given a little longer away from the international game. He is expected to return to the Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, where England may well field three spinners.Moeen’s absence allows Matt Parkinson, who went on the New Zealand tour but did not break into the Test team, another opportunity. Zak Crawley, who made his Test debut in the Hamilton Test, also retains his place as a reserve batsman. That means there is no place for Dawid Malan.The return of Anderson and Wood means no place for Lancashire seamer Saqib Mahmood. He is the one man from the Test squad in New Zealand to
miss out. “With James Anderson and Mark Wood returning to the squad, Saqib Mahmood is the unfortunate player to miss out,” said National Selector Ed
Smith.”It is not predicted that Mark Wood will be available for selection for the earliest matches. However, he will travel with the team and continue his rehab work with the medical staff on tour. There is no exact date given for his return, but the medical team is working towards him becoming fully available for selection during the tour.”With that in mind, and given the extended period that James and Mark have had on the sidelines due to injury, it was sensible to have a 17-man squad.”Moeen Ali, who asked to take a break from Test cricket last summer, remains unavailable for Test selection.”Jonny Bairstow returns to the England squad after missing out on the New Zealand tour. Jonny, Mark and James are already in South Africa on
a training camp ahead of the Test tour.”The four-match Test series forms part of the ICC World Test Championship and will be the first time in the competition that England have played away from home. The first Test begins on Boxing Day at Centurion.

A new book has revealed team performance chief Pat Howard’s disparaging comments about the Bangladesh side Australia had lost to in Dhaka last year

Daniel Brettig04-Oct-2018Bangladesh’s inaugural Test victory over Australia in Dhaka last year was belittled by Cricket Australia’s team performance chief Pat Howard as being achieved by players who were not up to Sheffield Shield standard, a new book has revealed.In Australia’s first Test after the fractious 2017 pay dispute, an underprepared team lost narrowly to Bangladesh on a sharply turning pitch and were immediately leapt upon by sections of the media as overpaid prima donnas. In Gideon Haigh’s , an account of the build-up to this year’s ball-tampering scandal, Howard is shown to have harangued senior figures across Australian cricket in an emailed reaction to the defeat.”I am sitting in a cafe in Dhaka hotel at the conclusion of the first Test loss ever to Bangladesh. I am personally embarrassed and take accountability and happy to accept any criticism that comes our way,” Howard wrote. “For some of you sitting here in Dhaka you are fully aware of how poor a result this is and you have a material opportunity to address in the next few days.”Rightly the system is often judged on the outcomes of the national team. As you can imagine there are many questions being asked of us, and I think they are fair. I am reasonably confident that many of the players that have just beaten us would not get a run in any of the state teams.”To the CA Team Performance – When you go home at the end of the day, does what you do actually make a difference? CA spends over $100m on players’ wages and teams, all in the effort of producing great national teams. We have failed, you have failed and I have failed and it is not good enough.”Howard’s unflattering depiction of the Bangladesh side Australia had just lost to was followed by an improved performance and a victory by the tourists in the second Test, but also by the cancellation of Bangladesh’s scheduled visit to Australia for Tests this year. It is part of a wider picture painted by Haigh of arrogance and disconnection in Australian cricket, a sobering tale for the new chief executive, Kevin Roberts.Elsewhere, Haigh depicts the growing problems confronted by Australia’s ODI team, which one player described as being nothing like a team, while another criticised the former coach Darren Lehmann’s lack of detailed information about how to improve performances. “A player summed up the one-day side in a word: ‘Individuals’. There were no basics, no planning. You got together in the morning, went your separate ways at night. It never felt like an Australian ‘team’ in any sense of the word.””Another player felt that Lehmann had fallen into this coaching fashion simply through running short of things to say: ‘I love Boof. He’s got a great heart and he loves the players. But, really, he hardly coached technique at all. ‘You’re struggling? Just whack it.’ ‘You’re going for runs? Just bowl yorkers.’ ‘We’ll smash them.’ He really just had no other answers but to try and build up this arrogance.'”Haigh, one of the world’s foremost cricket writers, authored with David Frith the official history of Cricket Australia in 2007. The picture painted by is of much that has happened since, focusing on the fact that, as an unaccountable monopoly, the governing body has become arrogant, secretive and inconsistent.”Cricket Australia operates as monopoly and monopsony, unregulated, unrestricted and untaxed,” Haigh writes. “If one wishes to work in the sport, there is every incentive to stay the right side of the country’s sole promoter of cricket attractions and employer of cricket talent. Over the last decade, the organisation has also grown increasingly secretive and sensitive – paradoxically, with each year that it has grown richer and more powerful.”Some who’ve raised questions these last few years have been penalised for their trouble. Asked to sum up the culture of Australian cricket, one of my interviewees put it more succinctly than I ever could: ‘Bullies and sycophants.’ Said another, by way of contrast: ‘[Australian rules] Football gives you one in the belly. Cricket gives you one in the back. It is full of good haters.’ Quoting them directly would hardly improve their employment prospects. But these voices do need a hearing.”Crossing The Line

The Sri Lanka captain said his team expected the pitch to be good for batting from before the game began, and wanted it to be so, but failed to execute their plans

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle29-Jul-20173:15

Maharoof: SL selectors need to make serious decisions

Sri Lanka had specifically ordered the unusual batting-friendly Galle deck, on which India achieved their biggest ever victory in terms of runs. Rangana Herath did not reveal why such a request should be made when facing a team who have an outstanding top order. Instead, he laid the blame on his team’s execution of what he felt was a good strategy.Where India made 840 runs at a run rate better than 4.5 an over across the match, losing only 13 wickets in the process, Sri Lanka mustered just 536. They were without Asela Gunaratne in both innings, however.”I think we made this pitch because we had a plan,” Herath said. “I said before the match that it will be a track that’s good for batting. We should take the main responsibility for the nature of the pitch. We didn’t bat or bowl well on it. We shouldn’t blame anyone else. We have to resolve our own issues.”Chief among those issues, Herath felt, was the batting. Three India batsmen made hundreds in the match, including two – Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara – who passed 150. Sri Lanka’s top score, meanwhile, was Dimuth Karunaratne’s 97. Dilruwan Perera also hit 92 not out in the first innings.”A few of our batsmen got close to three figures and got out, but the Indian batsmen not only got their hundreds, they went further. That was a big difference too in the game, and an area that we have to work on.”Herath also felt Sri Lanka gave a poor account of themselves with the ball. This was the first time since March 2013 that Sri Lanka conceded 600 runs or more in an innings – the last occasion having been against Bangladesh in a high-scoring draw in 2013. They have since given away 524 for 5 in New Zealand and 575 for 9 in England, but have generally been more penetrative at home.”We are a better team than this,” Herath said. “We really are. I felt that it was after a long time that a team scored 600 runs against us. We should have bowled better.”Sri Lanka’s worst bowling in the match perhaps came on the first day, when Shikhar Dhawan hit 190 off 168 balls. Only Herath maintained an economy rate of below four in the first innings.”At that point, we had a few plans for Shikhar Dhawan, but we failed to execute them,” Herath said. “For example, we allowed him too much width. In the first session of the match itself the game started slipping away from us. We bounced back well but he had by then got off to a terrific start.”Unusually for a Galle track, the quicks outperformed the spinners on what is traditionally one of the most spin-friendly tracks in the world. Of the 31 wickets to fall in this match 16 fell to seam bowlers – 10 of those breakthroughs shared between the two Sri Lanka quicks. This was the first occasion since 2014 in which fast bowlers were more successful at the venue. And where the track typically begins to offer drastic turn on days four and five, this pitch had remained relatively good for batting throughout.”I thought that on the fourth or fifth day there would be something for the spinners,” Herath said. “But there wasn’t as much help for the spinners as I expected at those late stages.”The seamer-friendly conditions allowed Nuwan Pradeep to become the first Sri Lanka bowler to claim a six-wicket haul at home since Chaminda Vaas, in 2005. His 6 for 132 in the first innings was also a personal best for Pradeep, who had never previously taken five wickets in an innings.”I think it was after a long time a fast bowler has taken a five-wicket haul in Galle,” Herath said. “There’s so much pressure on spinners when we play in Sri Lanka, and Pradeep bowling so well and taking so many wickets will be a huge plus point for us moving forward. He was outstanding in this game and his effort was fantastic. That was one of the positives.”

First met second in this top of the South Group clash in the Natwest T20 Blast in Cardiff, and it was Gloucestershire who secured victory against Glamorgan to become leaders

ECB Reporters Network10-Jul-2016
ScorecardMichael Klinger helped ensure a comfortable chase•Getty Images

First met second in this top of the South Group clash in the Natwest T20 Blast in Cardiff, and it was Gloucestershire who secured victory against Glamorgan to become leaders. Going into this game the teams were level on points with only net run-rate separating them.Wickets for Graeme van Buuren and tight bowling from Benny Howell and Tom Smith restricted Glamorgan to 119 for 6. It was never enough runs to defend and an unbeaten stand of 97 between Michael Klinger and Ian Cockbain took Gloucestershire home. Both men reached fifty as they secured victory with 23 balls to spare.A slow pitch with low bounce confronted the teams at Cardiff and it was surprising that Glamorgan chose to bat first on a pitch that was used for the match against Sussex on Thursday night. Right from the start of the home side’s innings the Gloucestershire bowlers were on top. A steady batting Powerplay took Glamorgan to 40 without loss but the introduction of spin bowling helped the visitors take control.Van Buuren took two wickets with his slow left-arm bowling in this first over, and they were the scalps of Glamorgan’s two in-form T20 batsmen. First David Lloyd looped the ball off a leading edge to Michael Klinger at mid-off and two balls later Colin Ingram was pinned lbw by a quicker delivery.From there the Glamorgan batsmen struggled to find any timing against some canny Gloucestershire bowling. It became clear very early on that pace off the ball was the way to go, and the Gloucestershire attack was perfectly suited to doing just that. Howell conceded just 13 runs from his four overs of medium pace and van Buuren finished with 3 for 19.It looked as if Glamorgan would fail to reach 100, but 32 from Graham Wagg, which included the only two sixes of the innings, helped them set a target of 120. Wagg scored 18 runs off the 20th over, bowled by Andrew Tye, to give his team a chance, albeit a slim one.A Glamorgan attack that featured the pace of Shaun Tait and Timm van der Gugten was far less equipped to cause real issues on this tired Cardiff pitch, and the extra pace allowed the Gloucestershire batsmen to time the ball with much greater ease than the opposition.The early wicket of Hamish Marshall, well caught down the leg side by Mark Wallace off van der Gugten, gave Glamorgan some hope but from there Gloucestershire cruised to victory.
With a lack of slower bowling options available to him Rudolph brought himself on to bowl his part-time legspin for the first time in the T20 Blast this season in attempt to try something different. By then the run rate was down to four an over and there was no need for Gloucestershire to take any risks.This defeat is a setback for Glamorgan but they still have four matches left in this competition and are well placed to secure a quarter-final spot. For Gloucestershire one more win from their remaining two matches and they are mathematically certain of qualification for the knockout stages.

Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie insisted that Jonny Bairstow is a victim of circumstance and after dropping him in the wake of the Ashes whitewash England need to recognise his ability

Jon Culley at Headingley08-Jun-2015
ScorecardJonny Bairstow’s mature hundred held Yorkshire together•Getty Images

It is probably just as well that England plumped for Trevor Bayliss ahead of Jason Gillespie as their next head coach because had the Yorkshire Aussie been given the job then Jonny Bairstow would not be joining Messrs Root, Ballance, Lyth, Rashid and Plunkett in not seeing much of Headingley.Gillespie believes that regardless of Jos Buttler’s obvious qualities, there ought to be room somewhere in the England team for the Yorkshire wicketkeeper, who has not played a Test since he was discarded following the Ashes whitewash of the winter before last yet has returned from his stint as Buttler’s back-up on the Caribbean tour in exhilarating form.Adequate superlatives proved almost beyond Gillespie’s vocabulary as Bairstow turned this match around. Having made scores of 102, 59, 50 and 66 in his first two Championship matches of the season, he capped the sequence with a superb unbeaten 125, his 13th first-class hundred and arguably a match for any of the previous 12.It was brilliant both for its construction, combining typical Bairstow aggression with the moments of diligence his growing maturity is allowing him to summon up, and for its context, given the predicament Yorkshire were in.As they replied to Middlesex’s 212, which the unfolding events suggested was not such a bad effort on a tricky pitch, Yorkshire had seemed likely to fall well short as some solidly impressive Middlesex bowling appeared to be underlining the value of Nick Compton’s vigilant 70 of the opening day.Jack Leaning, Bairstow’s overnight partner, fell to the first ball of the morning, leg before to a fast, straight ball from Toby Roland-Jones and Glenn Maxwell carelessly to the third, driving loosely to be caught behind. It was a disastrous start and left Yorkshire 96 for 6, and though Bairstow was not for dislodging, advancing to a half-century off 89 balls, others were. Will Rhodes stayed with him for 53 minutes but after he and then Tim Bresnan departed, Yorkshire were still 70 runs adrift and eight down, not yet having reached lunch.Yet Bairstow, who has been headstrong at times in the past, reset his focus and produced a performance that reflects his maturing as a player. With assistance from Steve Patterson and then Brooks, Bairstow was granted an extra hour and 45 minutes at the crease and in that time turned Yorkshire’s fortunes around. Of the 87 more runs added from that point, he scored 69, finding the discipline to avoid foolish risks and the aggression to hit four sixes and balancing the two superbly.”It’s one of the best innings you’ll see in county cricket,” the Yorkshire coach, Jason Gillespie, enthused. “I thought the way he batted with the lower order was simply outstanding.”In the context of the game, the situation we found ourselves in, for us to find ourselves in the lead going into the second innings was fantastic.”It’s up there with his finest knocks. I thought his hundred against Hampshire was a wonderful counter-attacking innings but this was an outstanding effort.”In my view, we’re quite fortunate at Yorkshire to have Jonny in this game. My personal opinion is he should be with the England side.”He’s been a victim of circumstance. The selectors haven’t picked him so all Jonny can do is score as many runs as possible and keep as well as he can. He must be very close.”I think his keeping has improved as well. There’s no secret to that. He’s worked incredibly hard and turned himself into a very fine ‘keeper.”We shouldn’t expect him to be around at Yorkshire because I think England honours will come calling sooner rather than later. He is in special form. He is a fantastic player.”Regardless of his work with the gloves – and Bairstow still believes he can be England’s wicketkeeper – there is an argument for him to be chosen as batsman anyway. With question marks hanging over the form of Ian Bell – and Ballance, for that matter – if a vacancy does appear in the middle order it is hard to think of anyone making such a compelling case for inclusion.”I’m pretty pleased with the way I’m playing, having not played too much in the Caribbean. I’m pleased with the way I’m striking the ball. I want to keep stacking up the hundreds, that’s what I’m striving for,” he said.”I would agree that this was one of my best knocks, one of my favourite hundreds, given the circumstances. It was an important one for the team and for the family, who have been through a difficult time lately. So that’s one for my grandpa.”Going from four down to six down quickly, that was not the plan. It is a difficult pitch and you know if you get one, you get one and you just have to be as positive as you can but at the same time keeping out as many balls as possible.”Losing Jack Leaning and then Glenn Maxwell, it was a challenge and we could not go bang, bang, bang. That’s why a lot should be said about the knock Will Rhodes played, to come in as a young lad and bat for an hour in that situation. And then to have Patto and Brooksy come in and play like that, they just keep doing it.”Asked whether he might switch his focus to regaining his England place as a batsman, he made it clear he is no mood yet to concede defeat in his ambition to reclaim the gloves as well. “If I’m keeping well and I’m batting well I don’t see any reason why not to look at combining the two,” he said.Bairstow’s efforts wrested a 17-run lead for Yorkshire but this match is far from won. After the Jack Brooks rampage on Sunday, Middlesex fought back well with the ball and have done so again with the bat.At four down for 72, with two more wickets for Brooks and Compton gone first ball this time, Yorkshire may have thought they had their opponents under the cosh at only 55 in front but Dawid Malan, batting with a runner after appearing to tweak something, and James Franklin have diligently applied themselves to rebuilding work and at 127 for 4 they had a lead of 110 that could be the foundation for a challenging last-innings chase.