Jonny Bairstow’s brilliant century against India at Edgbaston in the first innings of their crucial ICC World Cup 2019 group stage encounter on Sunday (June 30) was crucial in England’s eventual victory, to keep their chances of qualification for the semi-final in their own hands.
Bairstow’s 111 off 109 balls propelled England to a score of 337 for 7.
“Yeah, it was tricky up front. Obviously, winning the toss and batting, they’ve got a quality bowling attack. I think we were about 40-odd off 10 overs, so it wasn’t a blistering start by any means,” Bairstow told the media in the ICC mixed zone after the game.
“But I thought we assessed the conditions really well. It was fantastic to spend time out in the middle. First of all, to get the win to keep us in the competition was great. We go on to Durham now, really excited about potentially putting in another good performance and we know that we’ve got three games to potentially win the World Cup,” he added.
“Naturally, it was a must-win game. Therefore, we knew what we had to do. We’ve been a bit disappointed to lose the games that we have so far in the competition. But obviously, India at Edgbaston is a massive game. So, to put in a performance like we did today was, I thought, a great all-round performance.
“It was obvious that over the past couple of weeks we have not played our best cricket. This was a game that keeps the World Cup campaign in our own hands rather than needing other people to win,” the England opener said.
