Broad may be missing link for Bayliss
ENGLAND coach Trevor Bayliss is still searching for the missing ingredients in his ideal one-day line-up.
After their thrilling, lastball win in the final one-day international against India, Bayliss assessed how close he is to finalising his squad for this summer’s Champions Trophy in England and Wales.
“The batting is probably pretty close to what we’ll go in with, barring injuries or bad loss of form,” he said. “But the bowlers would be disappointed with their lack of consistency on a good length in the series.
“We’ve bowled well before in English conditions so I’m not overly worried, but we have got two or three players pushing for a position in the team.”
One of those is Stuart Broad, who has played only two ODIs, almost a year ago in South Africa, since England’s feeble showing in the 2015 World Cup. The fast bowler has 178 wickets in 121 ODIs.
Broad, 30, has been playing for Hobart in Australia’s T20 Big Bash League with the express wish of pressing his white-ball claims for England once again.
Other candidates are Steven Finn and Mark Wood, who is still recovering from injury, and Bayliss added: “Our Achilles heel has been taking wickets on flat pitches when the ball’s not moving around. It has shown in this series – we’ve taken wickets early, but when the pitch has flattened out and the ball has lost its shine it has been more difficult.
“We’ve seen in the past that guys like Steven Finn and Stuart Broad have done a job for us so there’s no reason why they can’t come back.”
England reached the final in the previous tournament in 2013, also at home, but lost to India.
They go into the threematch T20 series, which starts here in Kanpur on Thursday, without one of their Kolkata heroes.
Chris Woakes was not picked in the squad and despite his ice-cool nerve to close out England’s five-run win on Sunday, and injury concerns over David Willey, he has flown home as planned.
Yorkshire left-armer Willey injured his left shoulder in Kolkata but has stayed with the team, while England have brought in two T20 specialists – pace bowler Tymal Mills and all-rounder Chris Jordan.
Batsman Jonny Bairstow, who was not part of the original T20 squad, replaces Alex Hales, whose broken finger forced him out of the tour. Joe Root is expected to recover from a groin strain.
India will rest spin duo Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin, who took 54 wickets between them in the fivematch Test and seven more in the three ODIs. JOE ROOT needs to be told “sooner rather than later” if he is to lead England into the furnace of an Ashes series later this year, according to Ricky Ponting.
The former Australia captain, who led his side into four Ashes battles, says England are wasting valuable time prevaricating over whether Alastair Cook will quit.
He believes that if the current Test skipper is having any doubts about whether he will lead England at the Gabba in November, he should step aside now.
“Knowing the enormity of the series and the pressures that come with being in charge, being thrown in on the eve of the Ashes would be a big ask,” said Ponting, a BT Sport pundit at