England 'keeper talks fancy dress, Finn's batting and Leeds Rhinos
Friday 27 May 2016 01:12, UK
Jonny Bairstow reveals which caped hero he would dress up as, plus reflects on England's Headingley victory, his second Test ton and Leeds Rhinos' struggles…
Headingley was a great Test match for myself and the team - and I also had a lot of fun chuckling at the crowd!
There were loads of people in fancy dress - I saw foxes, plus Zippy from Rainbow and much, much more, and it just goes to show how great a place Headingley is to play and watch cricket.
If I attended I would probably come as Ron Weasley from Harry Potter - I have the hair for it - but having been to university I am no stranger to fancy dress, while I have pretended to be Batman's sidekick Robin in the past.
Liam Plunkett would probably be my Batman - that's who he turned up as at a Yorkshire end-of-season do and as he is a bit taller than me we would probably look the part.
I'm sure there will be plenty of fancy dress up at Durham, too, with it being Bank Holiday Weekend, and I expect there will be people wanting to outdo the Yorkshire folk in those stakes.
I'm sure the Durham fans will be disappointed that Ben Stokes is out injured and so are we - we know the qualities he possesses in all departments.
He's our fourth seamer, a destructive batsman at No 6, and is superb fielding either in the slips or in the outfield, so it will be a big loss.
Stokesy, too, will be frustrated that he won't be out there - that's the sort of competitor he is - but as he has two kids I'm sure he will be kept pretty busy!
We wish him a really speedy recovery, and we know that whoever comes in will do a sterling job.
Special
I now have two Test centuries to my name after my 140 at Headingley, and although they have come in completely different scenarios, both were very special.
The first one, my 150 not out against South Africa in Cape Town, was huge because it was my first in an England shirt but the second was big, too, as it was on my home ground with the side in a more difficult position.
I didn't tell myself too much when I came in at 83-5 - you don't want to change too much about the way you have been playing so I didn't consciously adapt anything.
I was slightly nervous in the nineties - if you're not in that situation then I think there's something wrong with you - but thankfully I was able get over the line.
I enjoyed my partnership with Alex Hales - the runs he scored and the length of time he batted was imperative for us as we set a total that helped us win the game.
Steven Finn played his part, too - his flick for four off sixth stump was an epic shot! He was delighted and we had a real laugh about it, but we quickly told him to get back in his box!
Turnaround
I didn't get to see much of Magic Weekend with the Test overlapping with it but it was obviously disappointing to see my side, Leeds, beaten by Wigan.
It's been a real tough start for the team and they are currently bottom of the table, but they are a tough unit and have a brilliant fan base which will stand them in good stead.
We must not forget that they won the Super League and Challenge Cup double last season and that over a long period of time the club has achieved a huge amount of success.
The quality in the side is unbelievable and it will only take one or two games and for one or two things to go their way and then they will be on a roll - that's the nature of sport.
It's like my golf game - I'm hitting it really well at the minute but no doubt it won't be too long before it turns around and I am playing a few more shots than I would like!
Watch live coverage of England's second Test with Sri Lanka, from 10am, Friday, Sky Sports 2.
