The Ashes

[Alex]

I dont think anyone expected a 124 run victory from being 30/4 and them hitting 523 runs in their first innings. Improbable victory that

I think New Zealand are in T20 and ODI mode. Dont know how to close out a Test.

[Shaggy]

Unbelievable Test match. First time in the post-war period that 40 wickets taken and over 1500 (1610) runs scored in a Test match.

[Shaggy]

ECB @ECB_cricket
ECB names Trevor Bayliss as @englandcricket's new Head Coach

[Chris]

Yes man scum.

[captainfog]

He is a very highly regarded coach who has had varying degrees of success all around the world. I know very little about him tbh but I'm happy to give him a go with an open mind.

[Chazza]

Alastair Cook will be the first England Test captain to have an Australian coach following the appointment of Trevor Bayliss, a 52-year-old New South Welshman, with effect from the start of the Ashes in July.

The precedent is favourable in that England’s two previous non-English coaches were the most successful they have had – Duncan Fletcher and Andy Flower from Zimbabwe – and Bayliss’s track record to date is fine enough to match theirs.

So it is not a conflict of loyalties that is liable to arise – cricket coaches are now nomadic, often training one country to face their native land – so much as one of cultures. Cook is not only England captain, but a very English captain, while Bayliss’s style is typically Australian and aggressive.

Bayliss aims to contact Cook from Australia, where he is packing up his family and belongings, before the second Test against New Zealand, which starts at Headingley on Friday. “G’day Alastair!” will surely be followed by “Hello, Trevor – Straussy has told me so much about you.” But then, a frosty silence?

What Bayliss did say on Tuesday from Sydney was: “It’s obviously one of the big jobs in the cricket world. To be asked to go on the shortlist was good enough, to be successful and get it is an unbelievable feeling, a huge opportunity and one I’m looking forward to very much.

“The opportunity to work with such a talented bunch of cricketers is very exciting. The opportunity to go and work with an international team with the history of England – it’s a bit hard to comprehend, to be honest.

“It definitely wasn’t an easy decision, because I was very happy with New South Wales Cricket, having already left them once to spend four years with Sri Lanka, and I could have signed to stay for three more years with Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL [Indian Premier League]. Talking to Andrew Strauss, it got to a point where it was something I couldn’t refuse.

“I have coached against Australia before with Sri Lanka, and we had some success against them, winning a one-day series in Australia, and beating them in the World Twenty20 in 2009. The way I explained it then is that in Australia your toughest battles are against your brothers and best mates in the backyard.

“I do know quite a number of the Australia team very well. I expect them to come out and play some tough, hard cricket, and they wouldn’t expect anything different from a team I’m coaching either. But at the end of all that there is respect between the two teams.”

Paul Farbrace will be the key man in preparing the ground because he worked as Bayliss’s deputy for two years in Sri Lanka, when Bayliss coached them to the World Cup final in Mumbai in 2011.

“I think Trevor’s a great man and he taught me a lot,” Farbrace said after coaching England as locum to their wonderful win against New Zealand at Lord’s. “He’s an excellent coach and manager of people. He’s very calm under pressure and you would never know whether his team was winning or losing.

“He accepted the traditions and culture of the Sri Lankan team and encouraged them always to take the positive option. He’d always play an extra bowler not an extra batsman. He’s not a safety-firster, he’s a front-footer,” Farbrace added.

This is where the difficulties may arise. Cook, as a captain, is nothing if not a safety-firster. On the fifth *morning at Lord’s he did not declare, as urged by certain commentators, but waited until England were bowled out. Only when New Zealand had lost early wickets, and called off their pursuit of 345 off 77 overs, did he set attacking fields.

When Bayliss coached Sri Lanka, one of the fundamental changes he made was to promote Tillakaratne Dilshan from the middle order and turn him into one of the most aggressive opening batsman there has been. Cook has yet to perfect the “Dil-scoop” or devise a new shot.

The other question is whether Bayliss has the clout – having played for NSW but not at international level – to persuade England’s senior pace bowlers, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, to be more aggressive, by pitching the ball up in Tests. There is no doubt that the other prime candidate for the England job, Jason Gillespie, would have had that stature and authority.

Where Bayliss scored ahead of Gillespie was in his white-ball experience, whether in coaching NSW to Australia’s domestic 50-over title, or Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL and the Sydney Sixers to the Big Bash titles. England’s white-ball cricket, after their elimination at the knockout stage of the last 50-over and 20-over World Cups, urgently needs regeneration.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/11630341/Trevor-Bayliss-appointed-England-head-coach.html

[Chazza]

Trevor Bayliss - five issues for England's new coach

From establishing a bond with Alastair Cook to overhauling the one-day team - five key priorities for new head coach

Team tweaks
England’s Test team is now moving in the right direction. Two problem areas are that of opening batsman and specialist spinner, but they could sort themselves out: ie Adam Lyth needs game-time to acquire the tighter technique required in Tests – cutting out the loose shots – while Moeen Ali needs overs under his belt. He has not bowled with consistent accuracy in his last three Tests but has still picked up 10 wickets. The third problem will need hands-on coaching: the proclivity of England’s pace bowlers to pitch too short – to protect their figures? – and therefore to be seamers not swingers. Basically, England win when James Anderson and Stuart Broad pitch the new ball up, and lose or draw when they do not.

Establish a rapport with Alastair Cook
Australian coaches do not generally do defensiveness – John Dyson of Sri Lanka and West Indies a rare exception – so the potential for friction is there from the start. Cook is not confrontational – no stand-up arguments – but he is extremely stubborn and conservative in his approach. Given the need for an appearance of unity and stability so near to the Ashes, Bayliss can be expected to rub along with Cook, then look to his appointed successor Joe Root to play a more aggressive Test game – straight afterwards.

Rebuild the one-day team
England’s one-day team, an embarrassment at the World Cup where they failed to reach the last eight, has to be rebuilt from scratch. Their methods were antique, and as the head coach of two T20 franchises Bayliss knows how to update the batting: Alex Hales, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, James Taylor and Sam Billings make a more likely line-up than the old guard – plus Eoin Morgan, as captain, provided Bayliss rates him after seeing his under-performances in the IPL. But finding extremes of pace and spin, which the leading ODI countries have, will take much longer.

Work out a T20 strategy
It is less than a year until the next World T20 finals, in India in March, and Andrew Strauss will not tolerate England being as inept as they were last time in Bangladesh when they did not reach the knock-out stage. As coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, Bayliss knows the value of mystery spinners, and Sunil Narine has been their leading wicket-taker, but there is nobody like him on the horizon in England. Left-arm pace bowlers, equally valuable in T20, can be found – so David Willey and Keith Barker will have a chance, especially as they can bat. Anything but the current diet of right-arm pace and offspin.

Get the best backroom staff
Whereas Peter Moores chose his staff from within the English game, partly at the behest of the ECB who wanted to show that their Loughborough performance centre was value for money, Bayliss will look worldwide for world-class coaches. So the main ones currently in place, who will have to impress this summer to keep their jobs, are the batting coach Mark Ramprakash, the bowling coach Ottis Gibson, and the fielding coach Chris Taylor. Paul Farbrace’s position as deputy coach is assured after being Bayliss’s number two with Sri Lanka.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/11630432/Trevor-Bayliss-five-issues-for-Englands-new-coach.html

[Chazza]

Eng have Stuck NZ in.

[Chazza]

400 test wickets for Jimmy

[Chazza]

And off for rain

[Chazza]

Back on Jimmy again NZ 2-2

[captainfog]

We should have batted first.

[Alex]

Based on what? It's got cloud cover and seemed like perfect conditions for batting. Jimmy got a couple, so it's obviously not a bad decision.

[captainfog]

Based on what? It's got cloud cover and seemed like perfect conditions for batting. Jimmy got a couple, so it's obviously not a bad decision.

Suns out, looks like a good pitch. Bit in it for bat and ball. First hour is always tricky but get in and there is runs to be had. Batting last is going to be tricky.

If you put the opposition in then you need to bowl them out in less than a day or its a poor decision.

[Alex]

I mean bowling, not batting.

Anyway, 4 wickets in 25 overs isn't bad going. Normal day without rain that'd put them on track. Must have lost 20 overs today in total.