Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, has urged his wards to take the example set by Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes at Trent Bridge and “learn from it” following their heavy loss to India in Nottingham on Wednesday, 22 August.
England suffered a heavy defeat after India took just 17 balls on the final day to seal their victory. This, after England had won the Lord’s Test by an innings, and taken a 2-0 lead.
The defeat meant that since Bayliss took over as coach in 2015, England have failed to win three Tests on the trot. In his 45 Tests in charge, England have won 18 and lost 21.
“It’s not as if we don’t talk about it behind closed doors, try to work out why it’s happening,” said Bayliss. “It hasn’t been any different over the last two or three years; we play extremely well and then get beaten well. But it sets things up for a really good last two Test matches.
“The guys work hard out in the nets. And I think, actually, what we’ve got to do is take the example of young Ben [Stokes] and Jos [Buttler] yesterday and learn from it.”
Bayliss urged the top order, fragile once again, to do the hard yards. “There haven’t been a lot of runs scored at the top of the order, but it has been the same for most of the other teams we have played as well,” he said.
“It is about assessing the conditions, and working out individually how best to go about, not just surviving, but leaving well, defending well and putting pressure back on the opposition.
“We’ve got to do the hard yards. There is not a lot of difference between success and failure. You can nick one, or play and miss like Jos did on occasion in his innings, like Virat [Kohli] has done. At times, it’s millimetres in it, but that is the game.”
Bayliss also backed Alistair Cook to put behind his poor form and get back among the runs. “Cooky hasn’t changed his demeanour whatsoever,” Bayliss said. “He still practises as hard as anyone, if not the hardest in the team.
