ANTHONY McGRATH COLUMN

Jonny Bairstow’s call-up to England’s Test team, which is something most people were tipping, is richly deserved.

Maybe it’s come a little bit earlier than expected in terms of his career, but it just shows you what can happen if you get into a run of form, especially in the bowler-friendly conditions we have had.

In terms of his start in the first two Tests, it’s hard to comment too much because we have played quite a bit of cricket ourselves. I think he’s come in a couple of times against Kemar Roach with the new ball, which is tough.

I imagine there’ll be a few people questioning his selection, but that’s what you get when you play for England.

The way he plays, and the temperament he’s got, we shouldn’t be too worried though.

Hopefully we’ll get some decent weather this week and get a full game in as we return to LV= County Championship action against Northamptonshire at Headingley.

If we do, there’s likely to be a result. Northants are a good team, but we would definitely back ourselves to come out on top.

We enjoyed a really good win in the Clydesdale Bank 40 against the Unicorns today, and we still believe we can play a big part in that competition.

You don’t want to lose too many games because of its format, with only one team guaranteed to go through. But you normally see in one-day competitions teams getting on a roll if they get their tails up.

There’s every chance you can win five, six or seven on the trot, which we’re hopeful of doing.

We’ve got a game on Sunday against Northants with which to build on today’s win. Then we can go into Twenty20 in a good frame of mind.

There has been some banter flying around over the last 48 hours between Andrew Gale and Joe Root, who are Huddersfield and Sheffield United fans.

Rooty played league cricket instead of watching it on Saturday. The rest of the lads, including Galey, watched it in Scarborough. The skipper came out on top, and I think there were a few messages flying around.