Bresnan backs Yorkshire team-mate Bairstow

Castleford fast bowling all-rounder Bresnan has played in 11 Test matches for England, and all of them have been won, but he faces a battle for selection for the first Test against West Indies on Thursday with several seamers in form while 22-year-old batsman Jonny Bairstow looks certain to make his debut in the longest form of the game.

“I think he’ll do well,” said Bresnan. “He seems to relish the big occasion, and there’s none bigger than your Test debut really.”

Bairstow has already proved he can handle centre stage, having turned the match England’s way with a man-of-the-match innings on his one-day international debut last September.

“He burst on to the scene at Cardiff,” added Bresnan. “You could say he had nothing to lose, but he just went out there and blew the Indians away in an innings that stamped his authority and (showed) that he’s such a good ball-striker. You could argue we had no right to win that game, and we ended up doing it quite easily.

“He’s started well this summer as well. I watched the 180 odd (for Yorkshire) at Scarborough. That was a phenomenal knock on a difficult pitch.”

Bresnan’s England duties have meant he has spent limited time with Bairstow as a county team-mate.

But he said: “The big occasion brings out the best in him, and that’s what the cameras will be watching.

“They won’t be watching Jonny as a bloke; they’ll be watching him as a cricketer.

“From what I’ve seen of him, he’s a brilliant talent - one to watch, definitely.”