Their working relationship is less than three weeks old but the England head coach, Trevor Bayliss, is already impressed by Alastair Cook and while the Australian would prefer the England captain to stay true to his natural game, he has no issue with the opener’s recent attempts to be aggressive.
Cook missed out with the bat during the first Ashes Test in Cardiff. His first innings’ 20 featuring two uncharacteristic and unsuccessful attempts to charge the spinner Nathan Lyon and his second ended on 12 with an expansive drive off Mitchell Starc that flew to backward point.
But Bayliss preaches self-determination by his players - he calls them the current custodians of the game because the coaches “have had their chance out in the middle” - and therefore has no issue with Cook trying to lead by example when he sees fit.
“Cook is a calm operator and very well respected by the players in the team,” said Bayliss. “He is obviously a fantastic batsman. I thought his approach in the first innings – even though he only got 20 – sent a bit of a message to the rest of the players. Most of the good captains around are not only leaders of the team but they lead the way in their attitude.”
“My message to Alastair Cook is to go out and play his own way,” he added. “Yes, we were talking as a group about being mentally aggressive, not necessarily trying to whack sixes and fours. But if you are mentally aggressive those boundary balls – when they do come along your feet are moving and you put them away.
“Sometimes that message can take a little bit of time to sink in, I suppose. Certainly people like Alastair and Ian Bell have scored plenty of Test hundreds. My advice to them would be to go out and bat like you always have done. Those two guys are class players and can change their game to suit any situation. The rest of the guys can bat around them.”
Another feature of Bayliss’ early impact – aside from the near-flawless display in the field – was the bowling of Moeen Ali, who credited the 52-year-old with encouraging him to try his variations and returned with five wickets in the series opener. For Bayliss, the reasoning is simple.
“Against the Australians, if you are bowling straight, they will make you pay,” said Bayliss. “If you can get the ball to move in different directions obviously any batter has to make a decision, and when a batter has to make a decision that’s when a mistake can happen.”
