WE WERE LIKE RABBITS IN THE HEADLIGHTS, ADMITS COACH

TREVOR BAYLISS slammed England’s abject Auckland surrender as ‘embarrassing’ after their miserable winter hit rock bottom with one of their worst modern batting performances. England, without a Test away win in 11 matches, crashed to 58 all out which, incredibly, represented a recovery after they had looked certain to record the worst score in their Test history when collapsing to 27 for nine. And Bayliss, who is coming under increasing pressure as England Test coach, put the blame firmly on his own batsmen rather than putting it down to the outstanding bowling of Trent Boult, who took a career-best six for 32. ‘We were like rabbits caught in the headlights,’ said Bayliss. ‘Everyone was making the same kind of mistakes. Their feet were not moving properly and the decision-making was not what it usually is. The ball was swinging a bit but when it’s full it’s as simple as it gets, you have to play forward. A lot of our guys were out from behind the crease to fairly full balls. When someone sneezed everyone caught a cold. ‘I can’t explain it. It was a very poor effort and it wasn’t good enough. New Zealand bowled extremely well but we batted equally as badly.’ Bayliss, who has already said he will quit as England coach at the end of his contract next year, admitted he was ‘hurt’ and ‘embarrassed’ by what must go down as the worst day under his leadership and promised a full inquest. ‘I’m not the only one in our changing room who will be embarrassed,’ said the Australian. ‘I’m never angry but I’m disappointed. We’ll have to sit down and have a good talk about it. ‘Is it our mental approach? Is it something in our preparation? Are we good enough at working out how to play when we lose wickets? We’ll discuss all this before the next innings.’ England were forced into a late change when it became clear Ben Stokes was not fit enough to play a full all-round role because of his sore back. That necessitated the need for an extra seamer in Craig Overton — who saved England from even more embarrassment with an unbeaten 33 — and the dropping of James Vince. ‘When Ben went off his full run he could just feel it,’ said Bayliss. ‘He says it’s a lot better than it was, so we’re hoping it won’t be long before he’s good to go as a bowler.’ New Zealand pressed home their advantage by reaching 175 for three by the close and their captain Kane Williamson went into this morning’s second day only nine runs short of a Kiwi recordbreaking 18th Test century. But he should have been out on 64 when Chris Woakes deflected a Ross Taylor drive back on to the stumps at the non-striker’s end with Williamson way out of his ground. TV umpire Marais Erasmus effectively branded Woakes a cheat for appealing by ruling not out on review. ‘It was out. He got a finger on it,’ said Bayliss. ‘Everybody knows Woakesy is not the sort of bloke to cheat anyone. But I would have liked a stronger appeal.’