YORK-BASED Jonny Bairstow insists he won’t be neglecting his wicketkeeping as he aims to cement a place in the Yorkshire side.

It seems more likely in the short term at least that Bairstow will play as a batsman only in the county’s first team due to the presence of the more experienced South African Gerard Brophy.

The 20-year-old impressed with the willow in his breakthrough season last summer, and expectations are high again.

But he has kept wicket in four out of the five matches on Yorkshire’s pre-season tour of Barbados due to Brophy’s ankle injury, and has looked neat and tidy.

Bairstow, from York, said: “Hopefully I can try to keep improving my keeping as well as my batting this year.

“I’ve been working really hard over the winter. I went out to South Africa and worked really hard with Bruce French. I pretty much spent four weeks solid on my wicketkeeping, catching more balls.”

Bairstow, who scored 61 earlier this week in Yorkshire’s one-day defeat against Essex in Barbados, notched six half-centuries in 592 County Championship runs last summer.

He said: “I just want to try and pick up from where I left off last season. I want to establish myself to try to play as much first team cricket as possible.

“I’m really pleased with how things are going. I can’t complain at all. I seem to be striking the ball quite well, and my confidence is pretty high. I don’t think there’s anything more that I can do.

“I will be fighting tooth and nail to do as well as I possibly can.”

It is unclear as to whether Bairstow will play in the two-day friendly match against Lancashire at the 3 Ws Oval today. If he does, he is unlikely to keep wicket because Brophy is fit again and will need more match practice.

West Indies fast bowler Tino Best will play for the Tykes and is in talks about signing as a replacement for the injured Daryl Tuffey.

Despite Yorkshire struggling for form against the white ball on this tour, they dominated their first two-day friendly against Derbyshire last week.

A repeat performance against arch-rivals Lancashire would be just the tonic in their final friendly before the start of the County Championship against Warwickshire at Edgbaston on April 9.