Free and easy Joe inspiring England
A FIRST away series win is only the start for Joe Root as England captain, who will only “get better and better” with the players at his disposal.
That is the verdict of head coach Trevor Bayliss, who claims England’s search for a Test team with depth has finally been successful on this tour.
And it has been Root’s tactics and strategies that have allowed the players to flourish, which will only give him and them the confidence to keep improving.
“To be only the second England team to win in Sri Lanka is a feather in the cap for not just Joe but the whole team,” said Bayliss ahead of Friday’s final test. “The way Joe led from the front was absolutely fantastic. I still think he’ll improve even more from where he’s at now.
“Like any young captain, he’d probably like to do a few things differently but the more you have these types of wins in these conditions, that just gives the captain confidence and the players confidence in the captain that he can make the right call. He’ll just get better and better.”
Having Bayliss alongside him has been a big plus for Root, who yesterday led an England party to see the effects of landmines in the northern part of the island, where civil war raged a decade ago.
Root has been given the freedom to do the job his way, which perhaps was not the case when Alastair Cook took over from Andrew Strauss with Andy Flower as coach.
Far from being a ‘boss’ or someone who feels the need to micromanage every situation, Bayliss is a much lighter influence, creating a calm environment in which the captain can lead.
It has worked a dream for Eoin Morgan in the one-day team, and the Australian also appears to be the right foil for Root, who has expressed a desire to take some of the best things from the oneday team and put them into practice for the Test side. But despite the emergence of some new players and the team moving in the right direction under Root, it is not enough to tempt Bayliss to stay on and take them a little further after next summer.
“I’ve always been of the opinion, even before I started the England job, that four to five years is a good life for a coach with one team,” he said. “Hopefully you take it forward and then it’s up to a new voice, maybe someone with a different direction, to take the team forward. “The Test team are starting to feel good, just like that one-day team. When there’s a good feel around the team, the environment to actually learn and get better is enhanced. Hopefully those results continue.” Root was joined by Jonny Bairstow, Keaton Jennings and Olly Stone on an airforce helicopter to Periyamadu village, in a region where a 26-year civil war had raged, and where unexploded landmines are a constant threat to life. Supporting the Mines Advisory Group, they learnt how the mines can be found and removed by skilled workers in a bid to clear the area completely by 2020. “The scale of it really is amazing,” said Bairstow. “To be able to come up here and learn about a country’s history, with the war and how they’ve tried to get people back together, this is a massive project. “They seem to be doing a great job. The intricacies of de-mining must be so nerve-wracking. Knowing that if you place one finger wrong that could be it.”
The way he led from the front was fantastic