Bayliss: I can’t find answers
ENGLAND coach Trevor Bayliss insisted he was still the man to lead the Test team forward despite coughing up the Ashes in feeble style.
The Aussie’s influence on the white-ball teams has been profound with a T20 final to his name and a 50-over side with a modern – and winning – approach.
Yet England’s Test team has stagnated, and when it comes to playing abroad, have become easy pickings with seven defeats in a row.
But Bayliss remained defiant. “Well I think I’m the right man to take the team forward,” he said. “You may not, but I think our performances have been pretty good over the last couple of years.
“People above my pay grade make that decision, so we’ll leave it up to them.
“It’s a work in progress. I’d love to have the magic wand and everyone turns into superstars overnight, but it doesn’t happen that way.
“We’ve just got to get better, whether it’s with the bat or the ball, especially in foreign conditions.
“We’ve played extremely well during the summer, but in conditions away from home that don’t necessarily suit us, that’s where we need to be better, need to get more experience.”
One area where England have been noticeably weaker than Australia is pace bowling and that is where Bayliss may have to pay more attention, but he is not that clear about it.
He said: “There are some good young fast bowlers, how do we encourage them to keep bowling fast and getting better without wickets being conducive to fast bowling?
“Do they play too much? Can we keep them fresher? Can wickets be produced harder? Or do we keep going down the track of playing in conditions that suit what we do? I haven’t got the answers.”