In an innings that took NZ by storm, Jonny Bairstow again reinstated why he is among the most dangerous test batsman in modern cricket right now - hitting the second-fastest hundred by an Englishman in just 77 balls.
Chasing 299, England lost their talismanic batter Joe Root pretty early. Ollie Pop - the centurian of the last innings, went back after scoring just 18 runs.
When the 3rd wicket fell, England needed 243 to win the match. Stokes and Bairstow lead England's fightback till Tea. After Tea, Bairstow decided to take matters into his hand and started smacking the bowlers around the park. He kept going and slammed a century in just 77 balls to take the steam out of NZ's bowling attack and put England on the verge of a memorable victory.
With this innings, Bairstow broke the record of Shahid Afridi and Sehwag, who slammed their respective hundreds in 78 balls. It is worth noting that had Jonny Bairstow reached the landmark in 76 balls, he would have tied Gilbert Laird Jessop's 120-year-old record of fastest test hundred by an Englishman.
Well, he didn't stop after the 100, he kept on going, and added 36 more runs to his tally before getting out to delivery by Boult. The fact that he played at a strike rate of 147 odd in a test match speaks volumes of the importance of this inning.
He didn't just hit the 2nd fastest 100 by an Englishman, but the context of the game when he arrived and how he took it upon himself to do what he ultimately did says a lot about Bairstow's character and influence on the eventual outcome of the match.
No doubt, Bairstow played one of the greatest match-turning knocks in test cricket, and this one, will be remembered for a long time. Let's name it the Barstow Bashing at Trent Bridge.
