JONNY Bairstow has described this week's unbeaten 125 in Yorkshire's LV= County Championship victory over Middlesex as "one of my favourite hundreds" as he continues an exceptional run of batting form.
Bradford-born Bairstow missed the first three Championship matches of 2015 due to England back-up duty in the West Indies last month but has scored 402 runs in three matches since his return.
The wicketkeeper-batsman has hit two hundreds against Hampshire and, most recently, Middlesex at Headingley.
In batting superbly with the tail to ensure Yorkshire a first-innings lead of 17 in reply to 212 after they had been 142-8 on Monday, the 25-year-old secured his 13th first-class century.
Bairstow shared in crucial partnerships of 44 for the fifth wicket with Jack Leaning, 35 for the seventh alongside Will Rhodes, 28 for the ninth with Steve Patterson and 59 for the tenth with Jack Brooks.
"Having not played too much in the Caribbean, to come back and score the runs I have is pleasing," he said.
"It's the hundreds that I'm searching for and that was one of my favourites.
"We know that as a line-up we bat right down and we know that we have the capabilities to knock targets off.
"That positive brand of cricket is us. You don't get the batting points we have or score 400 in 110 overs the number of times we have without that.
"To have Jack (Brooks) and Steve (Patterson) coming in and batting in the way that they did was outstanding. They just keep doing it. I wouldn't have been able to do it without those guys.
"I'm concentrating on scoring runs here at Yorkshire at the moment.
"Come the end of the season, if we've all scored our runs, taken our catches and wickets, we won't be far away because we have the squad to be challenging in a few competitions."
Meanwhile, James Middlebrook is likely to face former county Northamptonshire in Sunday's NatWest T20 Blast match at Headingley.
The 38-year-old New Farnley off-spinner is available to deputise for England one-day spinner Adil Rashid.
* Aaron Finch scored 13 and 32 in his two innings for Yorkshire's second XI in their Twenty20 matches against Northants at Barnsley yesterday.
Finch has been out since early April with a torn hamstring, but he will play at Headingley on Sunday.
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