When Trevor Bayliss gives a monosyllabic answer – which is often – he is trying to be helpful rather than evasive.
Like the Australians of old he does not seem to indulge in much PR spin. Generally he just answers the question as briefly as possible on his rare visits to the press conference room. He breezed in after the end of the one-day series in Cardiff and did not waste anyone’s time.
Does he, unlike a fair number of his players, it seems, have qualms about going to Bangladesh? “No.” He senses some elaboration might be appreciated. So he adds: “None whatsoever.”
Is he planning to rest anyone for the three ODIs against Bangladesh that precede the Test series? “No.” Which means Joe Root and Moeen Ali, the ever-presents, will be chosen. Is he confident Paul Farbrace will still be in his post at the start of the 2017 season (there has been talk that Farbrace, who survived the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore seven years ago, may return to Yorkshire, replacing Jason Gillespie as coach)? “Yes,” he replies before pausing to give more reassurance. “I think Straussy might have sorted that out four or five months ago. I’m confident he will still be around.”
Is he looking for a new opening partner for Alastair Cook in Test cricket? “Possibly.” At last here is a scintilla of equivocation. “There have obviously been some young players making runs, who are coming into calculations, which is very exciting. That’s going to be one of the talking points around the selection table.”
The selectors are meeting on Thursday to discuss the tour of Bangladesh and the squads will be announced at some point in the following week, by which time they will hope to know whether anyone has decided to make himself unavailable.
Bayliss is hopeful most of his players will tour while recognising there could be complications, especially if some of his Test squad decline to go to Bangladesh. “The selectors are probably like me, doodling and picking teams,” Bayliss said. “I think in my mind I’m reasonably close. There are one or two positions in a squad of 16 that could go either way.”
One of those positions is that opening-batsman slot. So would Bayliss have any qualms about throwing the 19-year-old Haseeb Hameed of Lancashire into a Test match in India? Bayliss reverts to a monosyllable. “No.” He elucidates with “if he’s good enough, he’s old enough”. Ostensibly this is bad news for Alex Hales, though it remains possible England may take Hameed and Hales on the Test tour.
The other obvious talking point will be the identity of the third spinner in the Test squad. In the final ODI in Cardiff Liam Dawson played without advancing his credentials greatly but Bayliss was never going to rule him out. “He will certainly be in discussions, I would have thought. He’s a guy who’s got something about him. He bats, bowls and is a pretty good fielder as well. But it’s his game sense; he almost knows what’s going to happen before it happens; he’s one of those types of players.”
In a way the Test squad are trickier to select than the ODI one, though Bayliss offers a proviso. “It is difficult to leave four of five guys out [in ODI cricket],” he said. “It’s a good position to be in and I think that’s the best pressure – from within. The players on the outside pushing to get in and the players on the inside trying to do as much as they can to stay there. We are still on that upward curve but I don’t think we are on the top of it yet.”
In Test cricket the competition is not so severe in two particular areas: top-order batting and spin bowling. Hence it is not so surprising the national selector, James Whitaker, wants as much time as possible before contemplating whether, after due consultation with his captain and coach, to pluck an unexpected name or two out of the hat.
