BAYLISS FACING A MOMENT OF TRUTH

IT IS crunch time now for England as a Test team and Trevor Bayliss as coach in the longer form. They have to escape from Auckland without losing and then win in Christchurch to show they are not going backwards.

The autumnal rain had given them a chance of achieving this by the end of a third day when only 17 balls were possible because of the deluge. Without it, they could have been one down by now, but at least they had a fighting chance of a draw.

England should not be losing to New Zealand in Test cricket, nor have had so much trouble in combating the moving ball at a fast-medium pace, as they did in that horror show of a first innings here.

There might be a case for a change before a summer when Pakistan and India will provide difficult opposition, with an Ashes series to come in 2019 that will define this England Test team.

Bayliss always says he prefers Test cricket but he was brought in by Andrew Strauss specifically to address England’s poor whiteball game and he has been a huge success in revolutionising 50-over cricket with Eoin Morgan.

The question is whether too much emphasis has been placed on England’s limited-overs shortcomings and that Test cricket has suffered as a result, with Bayliss handed too big a workload to cope with three formats.

Strauss’s intentions were laudable and he recruited the best man for the job in the Australian, but what everyone at the ECB has to remember is that the bulk of their supporters prefer Test cricket and they should not drive away a traditional audience in the pursuit of what might well be a mythical one.

Paul Farbrace remains Bayliss’s strong right-hand man and the best way for England to ensure he does not leave to take charge of Bangladesh after this series might be to give him extra responsibility for the Test side and for next year’s Ashes.

Then Bayliss could concentrate on doing what he was brought in to do — win the 2019 World Cup.

For now, England have to ensure they recover from the collapse to 58 all out.