Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan have spoken of their pride following the announcement of their new captaincy roles with Yorkshire.
Bairstow has been appointed to lead the club in this summer’s Rothesay County Championship, replacing Pakistani batter Shan Masood. Malan, meanwhile, will lead the White Rose pursuit of a maiden Vitality Blast title.
Bairstow’s appointment means himself and late father David are the first father-son combination to be officially appointed as Yorkshire captains. David captained Yorkshire from 1984 to 1986.
Jonny will take charge of his first game in next week’s Division One opener against Hampshire at the Utilita Bowl, starting on Friday, a game in which he will keep wicket.
The 35-year-old said: “It’s a huge honour to become Yorkshire captain. Yeah, very pleased and excited for what the season holds. We’ve got a great bunch of lads that have been working really hard over a period of time.
“It’s something as a young boy you dream about.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Jonny Bairstow reverse sweeps during the latter stages of last season as he helped Yorkshire secure promotion to Division One. Now he will lead their title bid in 2025.
“It’s something you want to do, no matter if it’s the first few years of your career or the last few years of your career.
“To be asked to do that with the group of boys we’ve got is a proud moment for me, for the family, and I hope it’s an exciting time this year for the guys and the backroom staff – the rest of the group that have put in a heck of a lot of effort.
“Everyone will play their part throughout the year.”
Bairstow continued: “It was fantastic first of all for us to get promoted last year after what has been a very tough couple of years for the club.
“But what I will say is how resilient the guys, especially the younger guys within the group who three years ago went through turmoil, have been. They’ve now got that in-built within them.
Bairstow said it was an easy decision to accept the offer of the captaincy.
Picture by John Heald. Red-ball captain Jonny Bairstow will help nurture developing players such as George Hill. Last season, Bairstow presented Hill with his county cap.
“If they’d have asked me 10 years ago, I’d have done it. How can you not?” he continued.
“It’s one of the biggest clubs in the world, and it’s a very difficult thing to turn down.”
Bairstow has captained Yorkshire at age-group and Academy level and skippered the first-team once in a Vitality Blast clash at Northamptonshire in 2015. He also led the Welsh Fire twice in the 2021 edition of the Hundred.
Malan led Middlesex 78 times across the formats between 2011 and 2019, while he also captained Yorkshire once in last season’s Blast against Durham at Seat Unique Riverside.
“Extremely excited,” said left-hander Malan, aged 37.
“To be appointed captain in any format cricket for Yorkshire CCC, with the history it’s got, is a proud moment and an exciting moment as well.
Picture by John Clifton/SWpix.com. Dawid Malan has been Yorkshire’s leading run-scorer in the Vitality Blast for the last two summers. This year, he will be aiming to marry form with leadership having taken on the T20 captaincy at Headingley.
“It’s not only me with the new leadership, we’ve got a whole new leadership behind me with coaches and director of cricket.
“So it’s an extremely exciting time for the club, and hopefully we can put some things in place that put white-ball cricket in a good place at Yorkshire.”
While Yorkshire’s history is littered with County Championship triumphs, they are still chasing their maiden Blast title.
Malan said: “Yeah, it’s surprising, because when you look at the teams and the players they’ve had, they’ve had some fantastic players over the years.
“I’ve been part of teams that have had really good players and we haven’t been able to win either.
“I think that’s the challenge for us, trying to look at what we can to put things in place to make us a better team.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Dawid Malan has extensive captaincy experience under his belt having led Middlesex before his move to Headingley in 2020.
“We’ve come close at times.
“In the last four years, we made a quarter-final and a Finals Day, which means we have a good base of white-ball cricket. It’s just fine tuning a few things here or there.
“I think we’ve made some really, really good signings in Sutherland and O’Rourke.
“If you look at it over the last couple of years, we’ve really struggled with injuries and being able to nail down overseas players for the full Blast. We’ve had them for bits and pieces.
“But to have guys that are going to be available for a good bit and that are actually going to be able to bowl in the tough times, which we’ve probably not had the personnel available to us at all times with injuries to do, I think that’s going be a massive plus for us.”
Malan also confirmed that he will be available for “five or six of the first seven” Championship matches, a competition which he was unavailable for last summer.
Picture by John Heald. Dawid Malan is chasing Championship success as well this summer.
He added: “It’s exciting to be back part of the group, and the guys did exceptionally well to get promoted last year up to Division One.
“The challenge as a team is to win some games up there, and I definitely think when we have everyone fit and available, we could be pushing for that too.”
Bairstow’s leadership obviously comes first, given the Blast doesn’t start until late May.
And when asked what kind of captain he will be, the Bradfordian added: “That’s the beauty of it, you can take things from different captains.
“Naturally, positives and negatives come into the way you approach things.
“You want to keep things as natural as you can, within it.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow, Yorkshire’s new captaincy team.
“Comparing yourself solely to one person is not necessarily the right way of doing it.
“There will be positives and negatives, that’s the beauty of taking the field with 11 different guys with 11 different characters. Your job is to try to get the best out of those guys.
“I’ll do it in my own individual way. Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s ok.
“I have some experience in the players around me, which is really important, coupled with Anthony, Mick, Sads and leaning on guys like Coady, Mala and Lythy.
“We’ve got a close-knit group. Not for a while have I seen it this close. Everyone wants each other to go well and push each other to get better and better.”
