When the former New South Wales batsman Trevor Bayliss joined the Kolkata Knight Riders IPL franchise as head coach in 2012, they were undergoing a rebranding, under the slogan “New Dawn, new Knights”. There is nothing quite so punny to be had now that he is joining England but he arrives as yet another dawn rises for England cricket after two long winters of discontent.
It is not a bad time to be joining either, as the manner in which the Test team have played in this first Test of the summer – irrespective of result, exemplified of course by Ben Stokes – points to a new appraisal of the manner in which they wish to play. It is good to see.
When, in the aftermath of an embarrassing World Cup, Paul Downton lost his job as managing director and the director of cricket role, now occupied by Andrew Strauss, was created, it was made clear that there was a strong imperative towards the 2019 World Cup, to be held in England, and even the 2017 Champions Trophy, likewise to be held here.
Bayliss is a coach of wide experience and reputation both domestically and internationally but, as far as England are concerned, he particularly fits the brief when it comes to white ball cricket. In 2011 he coached Sri Lanka to the World Cup final in Mumbai, losing out to India, and the following year won the first of two IPLs and the inaugural Australian Big Bash with Sydney Sixers, qualifying with both for that year’s Champions League in South Africa (but coaching only the former in it) and the last one in India in which Kolkata Knight Riders were losing finalists.
There is a further connection already with England in that he appointed as his deputy in Sri Lanka Paul Farbrace, the man in temporary charge of England now, who succeeded him when he returned to New South Wales and who himself, in a short space of time, then won the World T20 and the Asia Cup, a prestigious event on the subcontinent.
There is considerable limited-overs pedigree there and it would be amazing, given their previous relationship, if Farbrace, someone with whom he has a rapport in an old-fashioned commonsense cricket sense, does not continue the relationship. Bayliss is, as Shane Warne says, old school. In fact not the least of the reasons he asked Farbrace to be his assistant was because he recognised a kindred spirit with whom he could talk cricket over a beer or two.
“As a coach you learn from the players you played with, from the coaches you’ve been under, the good things and the bad things – what not to do as well as what to do – that makes up your style of coaching,” he told Cricinfo last year. “An element of it is my personality as well, which is fairly easy-going. Players at the top level are good players. That’s why they get selected. So it’s about creating a good, honest, hard-working environment and that allows the players to function without being under extra pressure to perform or not to make mistakes. That type of environment allows the players to use the skills they’ve got.”
Despite all the nods and winks, not to mention a gathering media groundswell, the whisper this past week or so has been that, when it came to Jason Gillespie, things had become lukewarm. That Gillespie was one of those under consideration is not in doubt and he has an enviable record with Yorkshire, helped by a deep squad of talent for which the director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, must take much of the credit.
Gillespie was an international cricketer of high achievement, a credential that in part fitted Strauss’s brief, but has no experience of coaching beyond domestic cricket, which does not. It may also be that his contentment with his role at Yorkshire, together with a new one with the Adelaide Strikers of the Big Bash, enables him to maintain a proper family life with his wife and four children rather than commit to the 300 days a year on the road that the international schedule demands.
Bayliss offers almost the reverse. He was a consistent batsman for New South Wales over eight seasons but never came close to the international team; he worked for NSW Cricket Association in a development capacity; and he took over from Steve Rixon as head coach of the state for the 2004-05 season, winning the Sheffield Shield and the ING Cup, the domestic one-day trophy of the time.
He was appointed by Sri Lanka to replace Tom Moody in 2007-08 and remained there until he returned to NSW after the Mumbai World Cup final and has since won the Sheffield Shield again. He also took over the Australia team in an interim capacity for a T20 series against South Africa at a time when the scheduling had Australia playing international matches in different formats two days apart on different continents.
