Jonny Bairstow

Son of the legendary cricket speaker and former England wicketkeeper David Bairstow, Jonny Bairstow is set to follow in his father’s successful footsteps. A talented player Jonny has appeared on the fringes of England team on numerous occasions and participated in every form of the game. Showing talent in a variety of sports as a child Jonny Bairstow joined Yorkshire’s Under-15 and was named Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year aged seventeen. He played for Yorkshire’s Second XI and their Academy side before joining England’s Under-17.

At nineteen he joined his father’s old domestic team, Yorkshire, as a fully-fledged cricketer and sports speaker. Jonny made his first class debut in June 2009, wowing audiences during Yorkshire’s second innings against Somerset. This impressive performance as a team cricket speaker secured Jonny Bairstow’s place in the first XI for the team as well as enough recognition from England’s Performance Programme to garner a place in the England Lions. Now working as a sports speaker and cricketer on an international level Jonny Bairstow was to find further acclaim in 2011 when he was part of the Lions successful tour of the Caribbean where he showed off his strong right-hand bowl and combative wicket-keeping skills.

During this period Jonny Bairstow found himself Yorkshire’s first choice wicket-keeper and registered his first century with the team in May of 2011. Also an incredibly popular player and sports speaker amongst domestic fans, Bairstow went on to break club records, turn his maiden century into a double and partner with recently retired England bowler Ryan Sidebottom in a Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire game that would break a more than 120 year run in Nottingham’s favour. Both sons of two of Yorkshire's best-loved former cricket speakers and players, Jonny and Ryan Sidebottom became a symbol for the team and the passing of talent between the generations could not have been more satisfactorily captured.

Jonny Bairstow found himself becoming more and more popular on the international circuit and was frequently called upon to appear in the England A team. Now working as an after dinner speaker and sportsman around the world Bairstow found he was unable to fully dedicate himself to the commitments of his domestic team. Despite such potential setbacks, Bairstow played admirably at each appearance for Yorkshire, hitting his second-biggest first-class score in a game against Leicestershire in 2015 as well as a match-winning 68 not out against Sussex in the same season.

Kicking off 2016 with the same impressive level of success Jonny Bairstow hit 200 off 163 in one of the first test matches of the year on January 3rd when England played South Africa. He was also named a member of the England squad that was victorious at the 2019 Cricket World Cup. A history-making win saw him become the second-highest run-scorer for England and the 6th highest run-scorer overall throughout the tournament. With a future that promises to be filled with further sporting success and popularity as a cricket speaker and player on both a domestic and international level Jonny Bairstow is an ideal choice of after dinner speaker for any cricketing event.