Jonny Bairstow may dream of playing for England, but the Yorkshire star is determined to concentrate on his performances at county level first.

The highly-rated 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman was tipped to be playing international cricket within three years by Jacques Rudolph shortly before the South African left Headingley last September.

And Bairstow has since toured Australia with the ECB Performance Programme squad, as well as currently preparing for the forthcoming England Lions tour of the West Indies.

If the Bradford-born player fulfils Rudolph’s prediction, he could well be in the England side when they next face Australia on home soil in 2013.

He said: “It’s a long way away is that. I’m just concentrating on advancing my career one step at a time at the moment.

“We’re going away to the West Indies in a few weeks with the Performance Programme squad, then it’s all about preparing for the season with Yorkshire.

“If I do get called up to the full squad, obviously it would be an absolute honour for me. But that will only happen if I work hard on making sure that my performances for Yorkshire are as good as they can be.”

Bairstow, Andrew Gale and Adam Lyth met up with county colleagues Ajmal Shahzad and Tim Bresnan on a couple of occasions while in Australia, and Bresnan has since gone on to terrorise the Aussies.

Bairstow continued: “Everyone at the club’s really proud of what Brezzy’s done. Playing in the Ashes is everybody’s dream, and he has done absolutely brilliantly.

“Brezzy and Ajmal have both worked really hard to take advantage of the chance they’ve been given. We’re all working really hard back at Yorkshire and in the Performance Programme squad to try and emulate them.”

Bairstow, who has not yet scored a professional century despite impressing, had never been to Australia before departing in mid-November.

He only played one of three matches on tour against Queensland and Western Australia XIs, but managed to assume his familiar role of ‘match finisher’ with an unbeaten 24 in the four-day fixture against WA.

Bairstow was also given the 12th-man duties for the full England side on the second day of the opening Test match at the Gabba in Brisbane.

Lyth had done it during the first day, but Bairstow managed to get out onto the field as England defended a first-innings score of 260.

He added: “I was really pleased to be able to get on the field for six overs - it was absolutely awesome.

“The guys around the team were really good to me and encouraging me. To be around the England team environment during a series as big as that can have only helped me. It was a huge honour.”