York-based batting star Jonny Bairstow says he will not be resting on his laurels after penning a new three-year contract with Yorkshire.

The 21-year-old was last week rewarded for a stellar maiden season in the White Rose county’s first team with a deal until the end of the 2012 campaign.

“Obviously I’m really pleased,” said the Leeds Metropolitan University student. “Security is something that every player wants to have in any sport, but you can’t just go into the comfort zone because of it.

“It can work both ways, and it can make you play better because you know full well that you don’t have to worry about your contract situation.

“I have now got to try to prove that Yorkshire were right to offer me that length of deal.”

The start of the new county cricket season may still be a little over four months away, but Bairstow has already begun work on his batting.

Yorkshire’s players – aside from those currently on England duty – are back in pre-season training, reporting into Headingley part-time for fitness work prior to their Christmas break.

But, with a trip to Pretoria in South Africa with the ECB Performance Programme on the horizon in January, Bairstow has more reason than most to up the ante in his preparations for 2010.

“The England thing’s a massive bonus for me,” he said.

“I was pleased with the way my season went, but in no way was I expecting to get any recognition like that.

“I have now got to try to use the trip to the best of my advantage, to make sure it trains my development as a cricketer as best it can.

“Nobody’s perfect, everybody’s got areas of their game that they can improve on during the winter, and I’m no different.”

Bairstow, who scored just short of 600 runs in Championship cricket last summer, was one of seven young players to secure their Yorkshire futures for the next two or three years at least.

“It would be something very exciting to have the opportunity to play first-team cricket alongside the people whom you have gone through the academy and second team with,” he said.

Bairstow, who will also be doing some fitness work at the ECB Academy in Loughborough next month, links up with the Group ‘C’ of the Performance Programme in