1 Talk to Farbrace
Trevor Bayliss is used to listening to Paul Farbrace. They have spent many hours on the subcontinent together and usually Farbrace does the talking since he is the cheerful, garrulous one while Bayliss is more likely to sit quietly and keep his thoughts to himself. Now the conversation may be more intense. Bayliss will have countless questions to ask about the setup and the players. Fortunately, he trusts Farbrace and he will soak up every snippet of information along the way. He has to do this as quickly as possible. He does not have much time to make an impact on the dressing room before the Ashes series is under way.
2 Talk to everyone else
This includes Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Mark Ramprakash, Ottis Gibson and the players. Bayliss is a stranger to England, which means that he is likely to be unfamiliar with the often strained relationship between Team England and the counties, Team England and the press. Here Strauss’s experience can help. Moreover, Strauss knows the importance of giving Bayliss his space in the dressing room. The rapport with the captain is also vital. It worked from scratch between Duncan Fletcher and Nasser Hussain back in 1999; there is no reason why it should be the same for Cook and Bayliss. The new coach will have to take a lot on trust. He may know the type of player he wants but he will have to rely on the judgment of others when considering specific cricketers. Even when established in England he won’t have time to watch much domestic cricket.
3 Get to know the Test team
A new coach can galvanise a side. All the players should want to prove their worth to him. Fresh eyes can often see something new. But occasionally change can also unsettle.
Bayliss, like Fletcher before him, will be extremely reluctant to barge in. He will want to assess his players quietly before diving in with any resolutions. Once again he has little time and the comparison with Darren Lehmann’s surprise appointment two years ago is not that close. In 2013 most of the Australian players knew Lehmann pretty well and he knew them. That is not the case with Bayliss and the England players. Their first meeting will be an important, nervy affair. He will probably manage to avoid Fletcher’s famous call to arms after his first meeting with Glamorgan players in 1998: “Right, let’s get this road on the show.”
4 Issues in the field
There are plenty of problems in the wake of the New Zealand series. Bayliss places great emphasis on fielding. While England’s ground fielding has been impressive enough, their catching in the slip cordon has been unreliable. This is a critical area because the bowlers are not creating that many chances. The personnel may have to change, which is not ideal just before the start of the series. And there are question marks over many of the bowlers. Despite taking so many wickets, Stuart Broad has looked flaky and Bayliss may have to challenge him over his tactics against the tail – not that Australia have much of a tail. Moeen Ali’s confidence is low; Mark Wood has impressed, Ben Stokes has flickered but neither offer Fagin-like parsimony. Only Jimmy Anderson offers reliability at the moment.
5 The batting order
This is the toughest area for a new coach to have an immediate influence. Bayliss starts with a spluttering batting lineup, albeit a long one. Adam Lyth has booked his Test berth alongside Alastair Cook, so at least one dilemma has been resolved for the time being. And expect Gary Ballance and Ian Bell to continue to follow the opening pair, but neither prompts much confidence at the moment. Between them they mustered 79 runs in eight innings against New Zealand. Ballance seems at sea against skilful left-arm pacemen – Trent Boult is right at the top of that list but so are Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson. Meanwhile, Bell is in fragile mode but they will not be in a hurry to discard a four-times Ashes winner.
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