FROM the age of five I have loved cricket and as a boy I had numerous cricketing heroes: Geoff Boycott, Ian Botham, Viv Richards and Derek Randall - all household names in the 1970s and 1980s.

I also had a hero who was less of a household name. He was David Bairstow.

My grandad in August 1976 took my brothers and me, an eight-yearold cricketing fanatic, to Acklam Park, Middlesbrough to see Yorkshire versus Glamorgan. What I saw was exciting, captivating and gripped me watching live cricket ever since.

Yorkshire were in trouble responding to Glamorgan’s total of 349-7 declared.

Wisden wrote: “Yorkshire, after some early alarms were sustained by Bairstow, who made his first class century sharing a vital partnership of 164 with Cope, promoted up the order in face of apparent crisis.”

David Bairstow scored 106. It was how he played that thrilled me. He was positive, driving thunderously, cutting aggressively and playing with the joy and thrill that makes sport irresistible. Yorkshire went onto to win the match with Boycott scoring 156 in three-and-a-quarter hours.

Those three days at Acklam Park with my Grandad are some of my most treasured memories.

I always loved the energy and enthusiasm of Bairstow. The way he played cricket was the way I wanted to play cricket. He seemed unbothered by the politics and turmoil of cricket in Yorkshire in the 1980s, a time when thousands of people would attend cricket club special meetings to argue about what was happening.

Bairstow really was a Boy’s Own star. He played football for Bradford City and was a brilliant wicket keeper. Sadly, his life was tragically cut short in 1998. When I heard the news I was genuinely upset, one of my heroes was lost and much too young.

At the weekend, Jonny Bairstow scored his first test match hundred.

He played beautifully, with enthusiasm.

He hits the ball like a bullet.

I have loved watching Jonny develop.

I’ve seen him play for Yorkshire at Scarborough and he’s been instrumental in Yorkshire becoming the top domestic team in England.

He also seems to be a great sportsman, someone who plays the game like it should be played.

He seems modest and determined those characteristics complement his undoubted ability.

I think Jonny will become a lynchpin for England over the next few years. He’ll score many more hundreds.

What’s more is that he will inspire other eight-year-old children to play cricket.

Well done, Jonny, and well done to Durham’s Ben Stokes whose 259 on the same day was incredible.

Richard Bulmer, Sheffield