CARRY ON SLOGGING

Bayliss orders England batters to keep giving it some welly despite Lord’s collapse

ENGLAND’S gung-ho cricketers are being told to give it even more welly if they want to win the Champions Trophy. Coach Trevor Bayliss knows a thing or two about winning white-ball tournaments and getting to finals having done so in Australia and India, in charge of Sri Lanka and England, and he insists teams must be bold. So after seeing his team routed for 153 at Lord’s on Monday after being reduced to 20-6, he wants to see an even greater commitment to positive cricket. That is the blueprint he and captain Eoin Morgan have used up to now and on the eve of their first global 50-over tournament together they are reminding the players to keep going hard. “I haven’t seen a team win a global tournament playing defensively,” said Bayliss (below), who took Sri Lanka to the 2011 World Cup final. “It’s a team that backs itself and plays bold cricket. “You have to take the good with the bad and be a bit flexible and better than we were at Lord’s. “You can still have a good, positive mind on these wickets, to defend well and leave well and pick the right ball to hit. “The message won’t change. I don’t think we’ll see too many of those wickets, but you never know – we have to be smart enough to work it out. “One of the things I thought was that we looked a bit tentative – we weren’t, in our minds, positive enough.” And if there is one player who epitomises that boldness it is Jason Roy at the top of the order, who edged Kagiso Rabada behind for just four at Lord’s, but took 16 off his opening over in the World T20. Roy has looked out of sorts this summer after a stop-start IPL experience and is under pressure from Jonny Bairstow. “Some players are different, but Jason is one of the guys who if the ball is there you hit it – whether that’s first or second ball,” added Bayliss. “If it’s in your area then give it a good hit. Sometimes some of those players can get in a rut and start thinking too much, rather than just keeping it nice and simple. “You worry about anyone out of runs, but he’s been important to us in the last two years – the way he plays at the top of the order – so to do well in this tournament we will need Jason playing well.”