Yorkshire's Jonny Bairstow hoping half-century signals return to form (From York Press)

Yorkshire's Jonny Bairstow hoping half-century signals return to form

10:02am Tuesday 31st August 2010 in

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Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow is hoping his unbeaten half-century on the final day of last week’s LV= County Championship draw against Hampshire at Scarborough signals a return to form.

The former Dunnington star spent some valuable time at the crease, and recorded his first score of 50 or more in 11 innings in all forms of the game.

And, ahead of tonight’s crucial Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road, it was the perfect time to end a barren run.

“Yes, it was nice to get a few runs really because I’ve had a couple of poor scores recently,” he said.

Bairstow has scored 746 runs from 14 Championship matches and hit 219 runs from 15 Twenty20 contests earlier this summer.

He hit a blistering 32 not out off 14 balls against tonight’s opponents at Wantage Road in the 20-over competition.

But the 20-year-old has only notched 72 runs in six 40-over matches.

Last year was his breakthrough season, announcing himself with a fabulous 84 not out in a four-day match against Nottinghamshire.

But, despite earning praise from all quarters, he has not yet scored a hundred in county cricket.

“It’s going well for me this season, and I’m feeling really good,” he continued.

“But I’ve just got to keep working hard on my game because I know I can improve.”

One area Bairstow has got nailed, however, is batting under pressure.

Innings of 81 and 64 not out against Warwickshire to seal two Championship wins in April and July respectively are the two that spring to mind.

Yorkshire could have quite easily lost their first match of the season at Edgbaston until Bairstow and Jacques Rudolph shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 153 to recover from 123-5 in pursuit of 291.

And at Headingley last month, Yorkshire were in danger of failing to chase down 200 during the final session.

But Bairstow’s 64 not out – he shared 80 for the third wicket with Rudolph – was key in confirming the win.

He said: “It’s obviously a positive to be able to play under pressure, and I’ve been pleased to see us home on a couple of occasions.

“Every innings is a pressure innings because of the situation we’re in. Some days it works, some days it doesn’t.”

Gerard Brophy yesterday suggested Yorkshire should treat tonight’s televised match as a virtual quarter-final seeing as they need to win to qualify for the last four.

Bairstow added: “The guys are really looking forward to it, and we just need to carry on playing the way we have been.

“Jacques has been superb at the top of the order, and the bowlers have always done well at the death for us.”