Middlesex vs Yorkshire: Jonny Bairstow's brilliance with bat a timely reminder to England

After the Jack Brooks rampage on Sunday, Middlesex fought back in the true manner of Championship leaders here, only to run into another Yorkshire warrior, this time wielding a bat.

Jonny Bairstow, one of a trio of Yorkshire players unused by England on their West Indies tour, had scores of 102, 59, 50 and 66 in his first two Championship matches since returning and capped the run with a brilliant unbeaten 125.

To watch the Yorkshire wicketkeeper in full flow is usually an exhilarating spectacle, yet it was the context as well as the quality of his workmanship that made this innings special. Replying to Middlesex’s 212 – a doughty effort on a difficult pitch, built around Nick Compton’s patient 70 – Yorkshire had seemed destined to fall short.

Jack Leaning, Bairstow’s overnight partner, and Glenn Maxwell fell to the first and third balls of the morning, leaving Yorkshire 96 for six. Bairstow advanced to a half-century off 89 balls but Yorkshire were still 70 adrift with the fall of the eighth wicket.

What followed, though, was magnificent. With Steve Patterson and then Brooks defending solidly, Bairstow was allowed another hour and 45 minutes at the crease and scored 69 of the 87 runs added in a performance that combined discipline and aggression – he hit four sixes – in almost the perfect balance.

“It’s one of the best innings you’ll see in county cricket,” the Yorkshire coach, Jason Gillespie, enthused. “I thought the way he batted with the lower order was simply outstanding.”

It is probably just as well for Yorkshire that Gillespie was not given the job as England coach. Without three players in this match because of England duty, and with Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance only home on short-term leave, they should be missing Bairstow too, in his view.

“He is in special form, a fantastic player, and we shouldn’t expect him to be around at Yorkshire because I think England honours will come calling sooner rather than later,” said Gillespie.

It would have to be as a batsman only, you suspect, but if England do look to refresh their middle order, there is no one making as compelling a case.

The match is intriguingly poised. Middlesex last their first four second-innings wickets for 72 but a 55-run partnership between James Franklin and Dawid Malan, batting with a runner, put them 110 in front at the close.