DUBAI // Given the hours of toil bowlers are often consigned to during Test matches in the UAE, they are always grateful to see their fielders putting in the effort, too.
Despite not bowling, and being a human punch bag for most of the day, Jonny Bairstow was probably the star of a tough opening day for England in the second Test.
Stationed at boot-hill for much of it, under a helmet and with some flimsy shin-pads to protect him, the Yorkshireman was hit a variety of times. Seldom did he even flinch.
His reward was probably a string of bruises and two sharp catches. The second, to dismiss Shoaib Malik for two off Ben Stokes, fittingly rebounded off his chest first.
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“All those yards in the gym did him some good, with that barrel chest,” Mark Wood, the England fast bowler, said of Bairstow.
“The football in the morning is paying off, with that chest pump and then catch. After Shoaib Malik got 240, it was nice to see the back of him early,” a reference to Malik’s score in the first Test. “We set out to get early wickets with that new ball so it was great Jonny held on to that catch.”
Despite being able to celebrate just the four wickets as a side at the Dubai International Stadium, as Pakistan reached 282, Wood reckoned England’s bowlers had performed well.
“I think as a group we did really well,” said Wood, who dismissed Younis Khan for 56 in the evening session. “Hopefully if we can get a couple of early wickets tomorrow, it brings in the tail, then we can knock them over quickly.”
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