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Jonny Bairstow‘s sensational effort with the willow helped England recover after a shaky start on Day 1 of the ongoing fir♉s෴t Testa against West Indies.
Bairstow came to bat when England were reeling at 48/4 with top-order featuring Alex Less (4), Zak Crawley (8), Joe Root (13) and Dan Lawrence (20) falling without contributing enough to the team’s score.
The Yorkshire batter then formed a crucial 67 runs partnership with all-rounder Ben Stokes for the fifth wicket to take the visitors out of hot waters. Stokes was cleaned up by Jayden Seales for a 95-ball 36, bu♉t Bairstow kept his e🌠nd alive.
The right-handed batter built another vital stand of 99 runs with wicketkeeper Ben Foakes for the sixth wicket. Bairstow kept England in the game and smashed his career’s eighth Test century.
After his partnership with Foakes (42) was broken by Jason Holder, Bairstow (109 no) teamed up with Chris Woakes (24 no) to add unbeaten 54🌊 runs for the seventh w⭕icket as England finished Day 1 at 268/6 in 86 overs.
For the Windies, Holder (2/15), Seales (2/64) and Kemar Roach (2/71) all picked up a couple of wickets each.
“Feels amazing—amazing place to come and score a century. Especially here with the travelling fans who haven’t been able to come for a couple of years, we’re very fortunate to have them. It was really great fun playing over here. We’ve spoken about partnerships and how crucial it can be. Not just at the top of the order but all the way through. It’s really important we continue that tomorrow. Three big partnerships through the middle of the innings, and they were crucial,” said Bairstow after the end of the day’s play.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
From 57-4 to 268-6 at the close
A strong response after the morning session 💪
Match Centre:
🏝 🏴
— England Cricket (@englandcricket)
Class act .. Getting runs when your team needs them mos🐟t is a trait all players crave for .. He does now across all the formats .. not many players say that these days ..
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan)
Another magnificent hundred 🧔for Jonny Bairstow, his second in ♏as many Tests. A smiley celebration this time.
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp)
Day One ends with England on 268/6.
Live Scorecard⬇️
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket)
A brilliant eighth Test 💯 for Jonny Bairstow 🙌
| |— ICC (@ICC)
In the end a 🤡solid first day in Antigua. Unbelieva꧑ble knock by Bluey.
As always great company . ♛Back again tom♌orrow 🙌🏼
— Sam Billings (@sambillings)
JONNY YOU ABSOLUTE KING 👑
💯💯💯
— England's Barmy Army 🏴🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy)
Back-to-back Test centuries for Bairstow 💯💯
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt)
Yes – proper Test hundred that. And when his side really needed it 👏👏
— Tom Haylett (@TomJHaylett)
Outstanding hundred 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
— Alex Howarth (@beak_howarth)
Batted Nicely done!
— Adam Williams (@adam_j_williams)
take a bow. That's 3 in 4 games I think. Batted.
— Dan Whiting (@TheMiddleStump)
Well batted super knock!
— Robin Fisher (@Armball)
Hundred by Jonny Bairstow in 190 balls. What a tremendous batting display by him, came inౠ under pressure and delivered a masterclass against the West Indies.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra)
//twitter.com/drcrelee/status/1501318016054743043
How to play a 🧸test match innings, brilliant by
— Daniel Bohuslaw (@DanielWorker1)
