Bairstow: Unfair to compare England Test and ODI teams

England's Test team have struggled recently while the ODI side has thrived, but Jonny Bairstow does not want to make comparisons.

Published : Jul 20, 2018 15:40 IST

Jonny Bairstow believes it is unfair to make comparisons between England's high-flying one-day team and their Test side as they prepare to take on India in the longest format.

England's 50-over team are favourites for next year's World Cup and claimed a 2-1 series win over India with an eight-wicket win at Headingley on Tuesday, captain Joe Root hitting a second successive unbeaten century.

By contrast, the Test team followed up losing the Ashes by suffering a 1-0 series defeat in New Zealand and were held to a 1-1 draw by Pakistan at home.

They will now look to rediscover their form in the five-day game in a five-match series with India, and Bairstow, who plays for his country in all three formats, is against weighing up the Test side's fortunes against those of the ODI team.

"I think it's a bit unfair to say, 'The one-day team's doing this, the Test team's doing that' – the one-day team's been together and pretty stable for the last couple of years now," Bairstow said.

"The group of players have been together and building. You look back three years ago and people were saying the same things about that.

"You can read into it as much as you like, but I can tell you when we step on the field at Edgbaston [for the first Test] there'll be a lot of excitement, passion and hunger to go out and win.

"There's an overlap of players between the Test and the one-dayers so coming off the back of a series win is going to naturally boost your confidence.

"Playing against the number two side in the world when you're ranked at one there's always pressure on it and to win that series was something we set out to do.

"We will take confidence from that into the Test team but at the same time it's something that we know with Test cricket is completely different.

"It's a different formula, a different game and different personnel within the team."

Root celebrated his Headingley ton by dropping his bat like a microphone, but his fellow Yorkshireman Bairstow does not expect the Test captain to make that a signature move.

"I know he's copped a lot of stick for it," joked Bairstow. "I don't think that'll be coming out anytime soon."

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