England go Down Under to reach top
Coach Bayliss plots course
TREVOR BAYLISS looked quizzical when asked about the problems being experienced by a South African side who suddenly appear riven with internal unrest as they battle to cling on to their status as the best Test team in the world.
‘I haven’t given any thought to that to be honest,’ said the under-stated Australian proving such a success as England’s coach. ‘Australia have never given any thought to England when they are going through a tough trot.
‘And I’m sure when South Africa were on their way to being the best team in the world I don’t think they would have given too much thought to the opposition. We’re totally focused on what we want to do. What happens next door in their dressing room? That’s up to them to work out.’
There in a nutshell lies the key to whether England are going to take the next step and win this series convincingly, as they really should now, or revert to the infuriating inconsistent side that loses immediately after winning a Test.
If Bayliss can inject the Australian way into this emerging England side then they should be able to turn the screw on South Africa in Cape Town tomorrow rather than release their grip on them and let them off the hook.
‘We’ll find out over the next three Test matches,’ said Bayliss when asked if England were now poised to step up a level and climb back up the world rankings from fifth to the top position they conceded to South Africa in 2012.
‘In the Ashes we won one then lost one and went backwards and forwards. That’s one area we want to improve on. To get to the top you have to play well consistently and that was an area of concern over the summer.’ England remain a work in progress, not least with batting still prone to collapse, but if they can start adding away victories to the home triumphs against India and Australia in the last two summers then they will be getting somewhere.
‘We are by no means the finished article,’ said Bayliss. ‘I thought in both innings in Durban we left a hundred runs out there. I liken it to a young batter trying to get his first hundred, getting over the hump.
‘They were tough conditions but the best teams, the ones that get to the top, have one or two guys who will make big scores in those conditions. Then you make a hundred extra runs in your innings and the result is a foregone conclusion.
‘There certainly is an excitement about this team but that doesn’t guarantee anything. We’re certainly not going to think we can cruise these last three Tests. South Africa haven’t become the best team in the world by not coming back from adversity. We’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us and we won’t be taking them lightly.
‘But hopefully this win sends out a message to the young players back home that we are a team on the up and one that everyone wants to be a part of.
‘There’s an opportunity to get into this team if you perform well.’
Jimmy Anderson looks sure to be fit to return at Newlands, almost certainly at the expense of Chris Woakes, as long as he comes through today’s training session ahead of tomorrow’s second Test.
All the problems belong to South Africa with Dale Steyn almost certain to miss out and be replaced by Chris Morris, added to the squad in the aftermath of first Test defeat, or the exciting fast bowler Kagiso Rabada.
South Africa’s problems yesterday worsened when Kyle Abbott was revealed to have suffered a hamstring injury during the first Test. Highveld Lions fast bowler Hardus Viljoen has been added as cover to what now becomes a 16-man home squad for Cape Town.