England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow rejected the talk that Australia’s Ashes hangover bites them back in the opening match of One-Day International series, which England won quite comfortably by 5 wickets.
Despite a poor start, Australia posted a good total in Melbourne but their bowlers couldn’t prevent England to chase down a record total. But, Bairstow doesn’t think it was Australia’s hangover, which gave them a chance to win the game.
“Jeez, if you can’t celebrate winning the Ashes I am not sure what you can celebrate other than your wedding or something like that,” said Bairstow. “So they should. You can’t just say because they have lost the first game that it’s a result of celebrating the Ashes. It’s a different squad, lots of different people.”
He also made a cheeky reference to the curfew which was imposed on the Test squad and remains in place for the white-ball side. “I am sure if it was the other way round (celebrations) would have been exactly the same – before midnight, of course.”
“You’ve got to celebrate your wins. It was a long summer for us and to play the way we did, beating England 4-0, we deserve to go out and celebrate,” he added. “If people think it’s over the top then that’s their own opinion. You get one day to sum up a summer and I think we did it in the right sense.”
The second ODI will take place in Brisbane’s Gabba, where Australia held a fortress in the Test cricket. Amidst, Bairstow know the feeling of being 1-0 down.
“We know the feeling of being 1-0 down so that’s something we’re expecting – a bit of a backlash from the Aussies,” he quoted. “But you’d rather be 1-0 up. We are really pleased to get the first proper win since we arrived. It’s a huge achievement for the lads to start the one-day series the way that we did.”
Bairstow stated while concluding “To carry on playing the way that we have done over the last 18-months, two years, in Australia is something we were really wanting to do and to start the series like we have, we can hopefully continue that in Brisbane.”
