Not
many have the honours of father and son representing the Nation - coming from the Yorkshire club, both Jonny
and his dad David have played for England, have kept wickets. Jonny Bairstow, the son of the former England
wicketkeeper David Bairstow, is a combative wicketkeeper-batsman who has become
a cricketer to be reckoned with in England's middle order. The journey was far
from easy for Bairstow, especially with Jos Buttler in contention for the
gloves, but prolific run-making for Yorkshire eventually made a case that
England's selectors could not ignore. Galvanised by his selection, runs flowed.
On
Monday morning, a "fantastic gesture" from an Australian cricket fan
in Adelaide saw England wicketkeeper
Jonny Bairstow handed a special piece of family memorabilia ahead of the third
day of the second Magellan Ashes Test. Johnny was given a pair of wicketkeeping
gloves that had been signed by his late father, the former England keeper David
Bairstow, on England's 1978-79 tour of Australia. Bairstow Snr, played four
Tests and 21 one-day internationals for England between 1979-1984.
Adelaide
man Andrew Johns was given the gloves when he was a child and with the return
of Bairstow Jnr to his home city, Johns was keen to reunite the Yorkshireman
with the souvenir bearing his father's name. "A chap called Andrew
messaged me on Instagram, actually," Bairstow told ABC Grandstand ahead of
play on day three. "I don't really normally look at them (messages), but
fortunately enough I did and (he had) a pair of wicketkeeping gloves signed by
Dad in 1978-79. Having reached out to Bairstow, Johns was invited to the
England team hotel on Monday morning to meet the England keeper and hand over
the gloves. "We had a good half-an-hour, 45 minutes together, which was
wonderful," Johns told ABC Grandstand… .. .. he was quite emotional to
receive them, for his dad is now no more .. and that makes a sad story !
It
was not to be a normal death. David
Bairstow was found hanged at his home on January 5, 1998. He was 46. Reports
said he had been suffering from depression: his wife was ill, he had financial
troubles, he faced a drink-driving charge and was in pain from his own
injuries. The news stunned cricket, especially as Bairstow had always seemed
the most indomitable and least introspective of men, and led to much comment on
the problems faced by retired sportsmen. David "Bluey" Bairstow was
not merely the Yorkshire wicketkeeper but almost the embodiment of the
country's cricket throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He arrived in county cricket
amid a blaze of publicity when he was drafted from grammar school in Bradford
into the Yorkshire side as an 18-year-old on the day he sat an English
Literature A-level.
His
son was just 8 – and now Johny Bairstow has written a book - ‘A Clear Blue Sky’, being serialised in Sportsmail is more than just a cricket book. It is
essentially the story of how the Bairstows have coped with the very worst that
life could throw at them, from David’s suicide almost 20 years ago to Janet’s
two battles with cancer. But, much more, it is the inspirational tale of a
small family with a close bond who have come through the darkness and want to
tell the world that, however bad things are, up above the clouds there is
always a clear blue sky. As Jonny says: ‘Most people believe their family is
special. I know mine is.’ At the center of this incredible story is Janet, a
well-known and popular figure at Headingley through her work as a cricket
administrator for Yorkshire but now, a little reluctantly, thrust into the
spotlight.
It
would have been a thoughtful and painful decision that after almost 20 years, have the Bairstows
decided to reveal details of how David, at 46, took his own life the day before
Janet’s 42nd birthday at a time when she was suffering from the first of the
two bouts of cancer which she has fought so courageously and beaten. Jonny was just eight when, along with Janet
and younger sister Becky, he returned to their home in Yorkshire after football
training with Leeds United juniors to find David, a Headingley legend, had
hanged himself.
One of the most striking aspects of A Clear Blue Sky — a title
which also gives a nod to David’s nickname of Bluey and how Jonny, initially
reluctantly but then proudly, adopted the same moniker — is the lack of anger
in the Bairstows.
Tailpiece : 1: In numerical analysis, Bairstow's method is
an efficient algorithm for finding the roots of a real polynomial of arbitrary
degree. The algorithm first appeared in the appendix of the 1920 book Applied
Aerodynamics by Leonard Bairstow. The algorithm finds the roots in complex
conjugate pairs using only real arithmetic.
2: 4th Test, India tour of England at London, Aug
30-Sep 4 1979 – score card reads : Match drawn : England - 305 & 334/8d; India
- 202 & 429/8 (150.5 ov) – score card would never reveal the high drama
that unfolded on the final day when 438 in 4th innings was made to
look gettable.
On that tour, Indians were
beaten comprehensively in the first test by an Innings & 83 runs at
Headingly and the 2nd & 3rd Tests were drawn. Srinivasan
Venkatraghavan and Mike Brearly were the captains. In the 4th
Chetan Chauhan and Sunil Gavaskar were
involved in a grand partnership of 213 and then Dilip Vengsarkar added another
153 – thus Indians were 366-1 at one stage, which for sure created jitters. At
tea, India was in a commanding position at
304 and England played negative
tactics in slowing down the game. When
mandatory overs began, India required only 100 runs and were on course to a
historic win. Not to be, as in the end,
India sort of throw away the match, with couple of poor decisions hastening the
end. Eventually India fell short by 9
runs with 2 wickets in hand losing the series 1-0. Bharat Reddy was the
wicketkeeper then.
Sadly, Venkat was to lose the Captaincy in an ignominy –
reportedly the news was broken in the PA system of the aeroplane when the team
was traveling back, Gavaskar became the Captain.. David Bairstow made his debut in that match.
Mike Brearley resigned as captain after that winter's tour of Australia but
returned, triumphantly, in 1981
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar.
5th Dec 2017.
