England’s Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root shared some amusing banter during The Hundred 2024 match between Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire. Bairstow joked about encouraging Root to bowl like Lasith Malinga in the game.
Though Root is celebrated as one of the finest batters, he is also a handy off-spinner. His confidence in bowling has grown over the years, and he has played key roles in England’s Test victories.
Jonny Bairstow reveals his funny banter with Joe Root in The Hundred 2024
While speaking on Sky Sports during the mid-innings break, Jonny Bairstow revealed the funny banter going between the two of them during the first innings of the game.
“Yeah, he bottled it, didn’t he? He didn’t even chuck one up. I said to him before he came on, ‘Its me or you here’. Then the next thing is he starts bowling lower than Malinga. I couldn’t believe it, so yeah, he’ll be getting some stick for that,” Bairstow said in a video posted by Sky Sports in X (formerly Twitter).
Joe Root has bowled with a round-arm action a no. of times before as well. Even during this match, Root used his skills to great effect and bowled an economical spell of 1-19 off 20 balls. He picked up the big wicket of the Welsh Fire captain during his spell.
Jonny Bairstow’s match-winning knock
Jonny Bairstow delivered a strong performance with the bat on a challenging pitch, scoring 55 runs off 45 balls while opening the innings. His innings featured 7 fours and a six.
In the match, Welsh Fire batted first and set a total of 129-6 in 100 balls. Despite early dismissals of Luke Wells and Joe Clarke, Bairstow anchored the innings. He built a crucial partnership with Tom Abell, but after Bairstow’s departure, Welsh Fire’s innings faltered.
During the chase of 130 runs, Trent Rockets began well but struggled with frequent wicket losses. Although Rovman Powell and Rashid Khan made brief contributions towards the end, the Rockets fell just 4 runs short of their target.
Tom Banton was the top scorer for the Rockets with 23 off 16 balls, including 2 sixes and a four. Joe Root, who came in at No. 3, was run out for 17. Welsh Fire’s fast bowlers, David Payne and Haris Rauf, excelled with figures of 2-18 and 2-15, respectively. Bairstow was named Player of the Match for his decisive half-century.
