STRAUSS MUST FIX THIS

AS USUAL, the focus after an Ashes defeat is falling on the coach — but to just discuss the future of Trevor Bayliss would be to ignore the real issue. Are England a very good side when they play at home in Test cricket? Yes, but their rare wins away from home — such as against South Africa in 2015-16 — have come when there has been lateral movement for the bowlers. So what do they do when the ball doesn’t move? England’s away record is abysmal because they don’t have a plan B and don’t have the right players to cope with changing conditions. We can’t lose sight of this amid talk of Bayliss’s contract and having separate coaches for the Test and limited-overs sides. Split coaching may help to a certain degree, as the problem with having a foreign coach is that they are always on the road — even when they’re in England, which is why they often last no longer than four or five years. This will take a lot out of the coach and limit the number of new players he can watch playing as he is constantly with the team. But planning for future series, particularly in Australia, is a much more important issue and Andrew Strauss’s role in this is huge. England can’t seem to produce Test-quality spinners and fast bowlers. Or if they are producing them, why aren’t they being picked? It’s easy to say this now, but in the build-up to the next away Ashes series the medium-fasts and part-time spinners will start winning again on home soil and it will be tempting, as it was last year, to stick with these same players abroad. England will have to be ruthless and acknowledge that this type of attack will not win away. This may mean telling the likes of Moeen Ali, who took 30 wickets at 21 apiece last summer, or Chris Woakes that they are not part of their plans for Australia. Strauss is an intelligent man and has known for a while that England need to produce more fast bowlers and spinners, but this is very difficult to do with our county schedule. If they can’t change the county structure, England must centrally contract some handpicked young fast bowlers and spinners and take them abroad to improve their skills. If England again just focus on the coach, they will fall into the same trap they always do.