Trevor Bayliss has said he will “step up to the mark” and reissue orders to England’s failing batting lineup before the final two Tests of their series with India and believes that a survival-first mentality is to blame for the current 2-0 scoreline.
The England head coach, speaking on the day that the return of Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales to the one-day and Twenty20 squads was confirmed, has called for greater positivity from the Test batsmen – both in attack and defence – following the defeats in Visakhapatnam and Mohali.
After a five-day break, in which the majority of the squad travelled to Dubai, training will resume at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday before the fourth Test starts on Thursday, with two new faces – the opener Keaton Jennings and the spin-bowling all-rounder Liam Dawson – among those jostling for places in the team.
Bayliss, who is yet to watch Jennings bat in a match firsthand, is concerned that after the drawn first Test in Rajkot, where Alastair Cook’s side racked up 537 in their first innings, his message of positive cricket has been replaced by confusion, leading to batsmen being in two minds and reaching sub-par totals.
“The players are in a good space,” Bayliss said. “We have been outplayed by the Indian team but when I look at where we are heading there have been enough good things happening in this series to suggest we are heading in the right direction.
“The first three innings of this series we had a nice positive approach to the game, in our mind and with our mental approach. If you look at batters who scored runs they were proactive, trying to be positive, which means they will defend well but when opportunities come along to attack we take them.
“Probably the last three innings we have got away from that a little bit. We have changed that mindset to more along the lines of survival, and when some of our naturally more positive players try to play that way they were in two minds.
“The message to the guys in the last two Tests will be to approach it a bit more like we did in the first Test and maybe the first innings of the second Test when Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes got together [in a stand of 110].”
Asked whether these instructions will be delivered by him or his captain, he replied: “It will be up to me to play a role there. Probably over the last few series Cooky has taken on more of a role there, which has been great. But I think for the coming couple of Tests it is time I stepped up to the mark to just remind them of how we have played when we have played well.”
Bayliss was speaking at the team hotel on Monday when announcing England’s squads for the limited-overs fixtures that take place after Christmas – starting in Pune on 15 January with the first of three one-day internationals before three Twenty20s – with Morgan and Hales back in after missing the tour of Bangladesh.
Despite assurances of presidential-style safety measures for the October trip from Reg Dickason, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s security adviser, the pair declined to take part, having been assured there would be no recriminations by the national side’s cricket director, Andrew Strauss.
Before the tour, which passed without incident, Morgan’s stance was heavily scrutinised by two of the captain’s predecessors. Nasser Hussain, writing in the Daily Mail, said that “it has to undermine his authority” while Michael Vaughan, in the Daily Telegraph, described it as a “huge mistake” that would leave Morgan unable to look his players in the eye in future.
Bayliss confirmed the matter of their return had not even been discussed by the selectors and he remains confident that Morgan’s status among the squad will remain unaffected given the 30‑year‑old’s role in reversing England’s white‑ball fortunes since their dismal World Cup campaign in early 2015.
“I have not sensed that at all,” Bayliss said. “There has been no comment about it. [Morgan] gets on well with all of the guys in the team. He is very highly respected among everyone for the job he has done over the last two years.”
A full-strength squad for the India series, with no players rested, means that, of the one-day touring party who won 2-1 in Bangladesh under the stand-in captaincy of Jos Buttler, the batsmen James Vince and Ben Duckett now miss out, with Sam Billings retained.
While Hales will slot back in to open alongside Jason Roy following a year in which he has averaged 62 in one-day international cricket, with four centuries that included an English record 171 against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in August, Morgan has found form more elusive in 2016 with just two half-centuries in 13 innings.
Thus runs in India will be needed by the captain to prevent questions over his place in the team, not least since Duckett started his career promisingly with two half-centuries in what were his first three one-day games. Bayliss denied any suggestion that the left-hander’s struggles against Ravi Ashwin during the Test series played a part.
“The Duckett decision was the toughest one and the one we spoke about the most,” said Bayliss, who confirmed that Morgan was consulted before the selection. “He has done well for himself but we thought we would show a bit of solidarity with the team we have had that have done so well in last 12-18 months.
“I have not had the chance to speak to him yet but my message to him will be: ‘Mate, well done, you have had a fantastic start and see this as the beginnings of a career. Keep going out and scoring runs because you are right there or thereabouts.’”
England ODI squad
Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan (c), Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes.
England T20 squad
Moeen Ali, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Eoin Morgan (c), Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey.
