England’s Jonny Bairstow eyes Test recall and Cricket World Cup defence

England batsman Jonny Bairstow has revealed his hunger to return to England’s Test squad, saying it is his “burning ambition”, and is also targeting a successful defence of the 50-overs World Cup title in 2023.

The 30-year-old played the last of his 70 Tests in South Africa in December and was left out of last month’s home series against West Indies as well as the first Test against Pakistan, beginning on Wednesday.

A Test recall “is my burning ambition, but the only way I’m going to do that is to score runs, starting in this ODI series,” he told Sky Sports after his quick-fire 82 secured England’s four-wicket victory in the second ODI against Ireland on Saturday in Southampton.

“I’m hopefully going back to Yorkshire to play two four-day games in between this and the T20s. So yeah, the journey to hopefully get back into contention for that starts here.”

An important cog in England’s limited-overs squads, Bairstow reached his 50 against Ireland in just 21 deliveries — matching the fastest by an Englishman in one-day cricket.

Bairstow reached the 3,000-run milestone in ODIs on Saturday and has now set his sights on helping England retain the World Cup he and his teammates won on home soil last year.

“We try and reach 4,000, we try and reach even more than that, as long as you’re contributing to the team and playing the way we have been over the last few years.

“We’re striving to keep pushing those boundaries forward to 2023. That’s my next bit — I want to be there in 2023 and really pushing and see if we can retain it.”