Ashes 2017/18: I Am Still the Right Man for England - Trevor Bayliss
England’s head coach Trevor Bayliss would never have loved a better homecoming than the one he is experiencing at the moment. On Monday (December 18), England conceded the urn to their arch-rivals Australia following the drubbing in the third Test at the WACA, Perth, and are now in danger of suffering yet another whitewash Down Under.
After the start of the fifth day’s play was marred with controversies over the wet outfield, England began the proceedings on 132 for four and needed to see out two sessions to keep the series alive and register a morale-boosting draw.
With first innings centurions Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan on the crease, the hosts must have fancied their chances. However, their hopes went up in vain when Bairstow was sent back by Jonny Bairstow just after the visitors could add one run to their overnight score. It was a similar story after that, as barring Malan, who scored a gutsy 54, England’s lower-order came a cropper against Australia’s formidable attack and were all out for just 218, thus losing the game by an innings and 41 runs.
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The latest defeat only extended England’s poor away record under Bayliss, but the head coach is still convinced he is the right man to take the team forward.
“I think I am, you may not,” said Bayliss at the post-match press conference when asked whether he was the right man to coach England. “I think our performances have been pretty [good] the past couple of years, so that’s for people above my pay grade to make that decision. I’ll leave it up to them.”
By saying the team’s performances were good in the last couple of years, Bayliss was perhaps referring to recent series wins over South Africa and Windies at home and ignoring the poor results like the Test loss in Bangladesh, series loss in India, draw at home against Pakistan. Under Bayliss, England had won 16 of the 36 games and had lost 15.
Bayliss further admitted that Joe Root & Co. need to improve in all departments especially in overseas conditions.
“We’ve just got to get better whether that’s with the bat or the ball, especially in foreign conditions,” admitted Bayliss. “We’ve played extremely well during the summer, but in conditions away from home that doesn’t necessarily suit us, that’s where we need to be better, need to get more experience. The Australian team have been too strong for us.”
One of the key reasons behind England’s failure in the ongoing series is their bowlers’ failure to take 20 wickets. With the pitches not being as favourable for swing as they are in England, the English seamers have struggled to make an impact with their lack of pace.
Well, Bayliss had a word of advice, as to what English cricket may do to help produce bowlers who operate over 90mph.
“The basic conditions [in Australia help],” he said. “If the wickets are responsive to fast-bowling, it gives encouragement to young bowlers to bowl fast. The English boys play a lot of cricket. Do they play too much? Can we keep them fresher? They’re all questions we’ve got to ask. Can the wickets be produced so that they are a little harder or do we keep going down the track of playing in conditions that suit what we do? I haven’t got the answers.”
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