JONNY Bairstow can be one of England’s great wicketkeeper-batsmen, according to his Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie.

York ace Bairstow has enjoyed an exceptional 12 months for both county and country, especially with the bat.

The 26-year-old has scored eight first-class centuries since the start of last May, including two doubles for Yorkshire and a maiden Test century.

There have been a number of calls for Bairstow to play Test cricket as a specialist batsman, but the man himself believes his keeping is improving and is desperate to retain the role.

Gillespie agrees, and has warned England that such a move would be wrong.

“We are absolutely delighted for Jonny that he has the gloves for England,” said the Australian.

“Hopefully he has them for a long time because he could go down as one of England’s greats behind the stumps.

“That counter-attacking option in the middle order – to have your keeper bat like Jonny does – is a scary thing for bowlers of other countries.

“He has an appetite for runs, and I have also seen an appetite to improve his wicketkeeping.

“That is not to say he hasn’t had that before, but now he is Test wicketkeeper, and performing well, he wants to get even better.

“The reason I say he can be one of the all-time greats is because at the moment he is batting seven.

“Whatever the situation, he can go in and be positive. If he goes in and England are in a bit of bother at 150-5, he can play his natural game and put pressure back on the opposition.

“If they are 300-5, against a tired attack, he can come in and launch to get the total up quickly.

“I see having him in that role as a massive win for England.

“There are going to be calls for moving him up the order, which I don’t have a problem with, but I think playing and keeping is better for Jonny.

“It gives him a break from thinking about batting all the time and allows him some freedom.

“I personally think batting seven is brilliant at Test level for him, but I wouldn’t be against it if he batted six.

“What I would be against is if they move him up to five and then take the gloves away from him. That would be completely the wrong decision.

“He is the best man for the job, and he will prove that over time.”

Bairstow will now step away from Yorkshire duty with England’s Test series against Sri Lanka starting at Headingley on Thursday.

It means Andrew Hodd will play in Sunday’s Championship match against Somerset at Taunton.

“We’ve coped without Jonny just fine. We’ve got one of the best keepers in the country playing in the second team. There’s no issues there,” added Gillespie.

“Hoddy is more than a capable batter, as he’s shown.

“He opened the batting last year. I don’t know many teams who will be able to replace the volume of runs Jonny gets, but we’re very happy with our personnel.”

Meanwhile, Yorkshire are not looking at signing a bowler as short-term cover for the injuries to Ryan Sidebottom, Matthew Fisher, David Willey and Tim Bresnan.

Bresnan’s return is imminent, and Martyn Moxon said: “We back our squad.”