Bayliss defiant after England surrender the urn

TREVOR BAYLISS insists he remains the right man to lead England as the post-mortem into their Ashes defeat began.

England have surrendered the urn before Christmas. And following their latest heavy loss, the knives are out for their underperforming senior stars.

Bayliss, 54, is now also under the microscope.

The coach took over England in the summer of 2015 and immediately led them to an Ashes victory on home soil before winning in South Africa that winter.

But while England’s form in the one-day game has rocketed, they have blown hot and cold in the longer format.

England, even with Ben Stokes in their ranks, were hammered 4-0 in India, while a 5-0 whitewash looms large here.

Under Bayliss, England have won 15 and lost 17 of their 35 Tests.

When asked if he was still the man for the job, the Australian said: from RODNEY WHITE in Perth “I think I am. It’s for people above my pay grade to make that decision, so we’ll leave it up to them

“I think our performances have been pretty good over the past couple of years.

“We’ve been trying to fill a few positions in the side.

Experience

“It’s a work in progress and I’d like to have a magic wand to turn everyone into superstars overnight, but it doesn’t happen that way.

“We have to get better with bat and ball in foreign conditions.

“We’ve played extremely well during the home summer but in conditions that don’t suit us, we need to get more experience.”

Play resumed three hours late on the final day after water got under the covers and leaked onto the WACA pitch following heavy overnight storms.

Frantic efforts to get the pitch ready, including leaf-blowers, were comically hampered by showers blowing ground staff and their covers across the playing area.

But soon it was England being blown away, as they lost their remaining six wickets in 34 overs to be skittled out for 218.

Jonny Bairstow seemed distracted by the wet patch on the pitch and was bowled by Josh Hazlewood’s first ball of the day which kept low.

Moeen Alli’s poor form continued when he was trapped in front by Nathan Lyon for 11, and there was no way back when first-innings centurion Dawid Malan went for a battling 54.

Tail-enders Craig Overton and Stuart Broad inevitably offered little resistance before Chris Woakes (22) was last man out to kick-start the Aussie celebrations.

With England 3-0 down they are now playing for pride, with the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne up next followed by the final game in Sydney.

Skipper Joe Root said: “These three games are not a fair reflection of how we have played and what we are really capable of.

“Fair play to Australia, they’ve outplayed us in all three games and we’ve got to be better.

“We’ve got to make sure we go to Melbourne, prepare well and put in really good performances there.”