We must take heed of reality check: Bayliss

TREVOR Bayliss says England must “take a good hard look at ourselves” after watching his side survive an almighty scare against Ireland.

Ireland were left chasing 182 to complete what would have gone down as one of the biggest upsets in cricket history on just their third outing at this level but never got close, demolished in just 94 balls as Chris Woakes’ career-best six for 17 and Stuart Broad’s four for 17 put the visitors to the sword in cruel fashion.

Only once has a Test innings been completed in fewer deliveries, South Africa at Edgbaston in 1924, and it also goes down as the seventh-lowest total of all time.

But Bayliss isn’t about to pat any of his team on the back and instead questioned their motivation after such an abject opening two days at Lord’s.

“For matches like this we have to take a good hard look at ourselves,” he said. “We have no problems getting up for games against Australia and India.

“Do we take the foot off for matches like this? Are we able to get in the mood to compete and be ruthless?

“Today we showed how ruthless we can be but we’ve got to get that into our batting as well.

“We gave ourselves a chance today but we had to get off to a good start. The two guys (Woakes and Broad) showed the class that they’ve got in these conditions.”

England will face a far sterner test when the five-Test Ashes series with Australia gets under way in Birmingham on Thursday.

Captain Joe Root believes his side will still benefit from the win despite the nature of it.

“It wasn’t by any stretch the perfect game for us but sometimes that can be really important in the learning part of a team and I think we’ll take a lot out of it,” he said.

“There are, of course, areas we want to get better at and tighten up, but we found a way to win a game — and that’s very important.

“There were a lot of different pressures around this Test match and to close it out was very impressive.”

England name their Ashes squad today and the skipper is optimistic over his team’s chances in the next six weeks.

“We’re pretty confident,” he said.

“We’ll have a final meeting (on selection) at some point and make sure we’re all pretty clear.

“It’s an exciting time for everyone.

“Ashes cricket is very special and the guys will be very much getting their minds around that now.

“The guys will have a few days off now and when we turn up for practice it will be all go.”