Jonny Bairstow brought a sense of urgency to a slow burner of a Test at Edgbaston yesterday with another thrilling demonstration of the bustling strokeplay that has made him one of England’s most exciting batsmen.
An attritional but fascinating fourth day had left this pivotal third Test in the balance, until Bairstow joined forces with Moeen Ali in the partnership which could swing this contest — and the Investec series — decisively in England’s favour.
What a year Bairstow has had and what an impressive cricketer he has become, as shown here with an unbeaten 82 in a stand of 132 so far with Moeen that leaves Pakistan needing to pull off a record Edgbaston chase today.
And what an important contribution Moeen’s second half-century of the match was at a time when he is struggling to establish himself as England’s No1 spinner as the pair lifted England to 414 for five and a position of supremacy.
It was hugely frustrating for Misbah-ul-Haq, who had seen Pakistan dominate for the first half of this match but who will now be grateful to emerge with a draw today and a series-deciding finale at the Kia Oval on Thursday.
The time of Bairstow’s cricketing life has now seen him score more runs in a calendar year than any other England wicketkeeper, overtaking Matt Prior’s record of 777 runs, with fully eight Tests remaining in 2016.
Bairstow is, of course, easily good enough to play in this England side as a specialist batsman but it means just as much to him that his glovework in the last two Tests was as good as it ever has been at the highest level.
Here he began cautiously, as befitted the situation, but he began to flourish once he had taken 10 runs off an over from Sohail Khan as England, who began their second innings with a deficit of 103, finally wrested control.
Bairstow had the perfect companion in Moeen, who went into this Test with the mind-set of playing like the top order batsman he is in county cricket and that he has the talent to be on the Test stage consistently for England.
It was Moeen who played the two best shots of the day, a cover drive and then an on-drive in the same over off Yasir Shah that could not have been bettered for silky elegance by even David Gower at his best. Moeen resumes today on 60 and could have just as vital a part to play with the ball.
How the best batting of the match from Bairstow and Moeen was needed because, whatever happens today, it will frustrate England that so many of their batsmen are doing the hard work before repeating mistakes that are leading to their downfall.
Before Bairstow and Moeen began to take this fluctuating Test away from Pakistan, no fewer than nine England batsmen had passed 28 but none of them had bettered Gary Ballance’s first innings 70. The twin pillars of Alastair Cook and Joe Root can be forgiven the odd lapse after their monumental efforts at Old Trafford and, if anything, it was almost over-confidence that led to their downfalls yesterday.
The England captain has rarely looked in such fluent form and, after outscoring Alex Hales in their first century partnership in 18 attempts, Cook looked certain to add yet another hundred to his record-breaking tally.
That was until the captain pushed firmly at Sohail and was mortified to see the flying figure of Yasir taking an excellent catch at point.
This was the first time Hales had reached 50 against Pakistan’s impressive attack but, just as when he recorded half-centuries against Sri Lanka, he was again unable to convert it into three figures, falling in familiar fashion outside off-stump against Mohammad Amir.
At that stage both openers had gone within nine balls without adding to England’s score, and it needed Root and James Vince to steady the ship in the face of an exceptional spell from Rahat Ali, who bowled five successive maidens.
Only 63 runs came from the morning session with Root needing treatment for the back condition that represents, more than any bowler, the biggest threat to him going on to become one of England’s all-time greats.
Yet Root was much more mobile after lunch and, like Cook, looked certain to reach three figures until he nipped a stand of 95 with Vince in the bud by trying to sweep Yasir out of the rough and only succeeding in top-edging.
That left Vince, in company with Ballance, with a golden opportunity to finally play the decisive innings on what was still a flat pitch that would have vindicated England’s faith in him and booked his place on the tour to India.
Instead, maddeningly, Vince again gave it away after he had shown enormous concentration and discipline for almost three-and-a-half hours in reaching 42 from 123 balls.
Vince could not believe it when, playing for in-swing off Amir’s first delivery with the second new ball, he instead found none and his bat followed the ball to offer Younis Khan catching practice at second slip.
What will surely be Vince’s last chance will come in the final Test at the Oval.
When Ballance fell to Yasir for the third time in this series, each time moving too far across to the off-side, England were only 179 ahead and this compelling match and the series was fractionally in Pakistan’s favour.
Yet that was when Bairstow and Moeen took centre stage and Pakistan’s four-man attack started to wilt as they could sense what would be a famous victory slipping away from them.
On this ground, no side have scored more than the 283 South Africa reached here in 2008, to bring Michael Vaughan’s captaincy to an end, to win a Test.
England will hope that this pristine surface finally starts to deteriorate today. They begin the final morning 311 runs ahead and all that remains to be seen is how long Cook gives his batsmen before he begins the quest to bowl Pakistan out and seal what would be a notable victory and a guarantee of at least a share of this series.
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Jonny Bairstow became the highest-scoring English wicketkeeper in a calendar year yesterday when his unbeaten 82 took him to 855 runs. It’s still only August, so with another Test against Pakistan and a tour of India and Bangladesh to come, he will be looking at more than 1,000 runs long before the year is out.
TOP-SCORING ENGLISH WICKETKEEPERS
Jonny Bairstow (2016) 855 14 inns
Matt Prior (2012) 777 22 inns
Matt Prior (2009) 740 20 inns
Alan Knott (1974) 679 21 inns
Alan Knott (1971) 652 17 inns – Mail On Sunday