England coach Trevor Bayliss has insisted on the fact that the English team do not require eight batsmen despite their much-improved performance in the 3rd Test at the Oval.
The home team drafted two new batsmen in the playing XI for the 3rd Test, Tom Westley at No. 3 and David Malan at No. 5 after the hosts were beaten comprehensively in the 2nd Test at Nottingham.
The inclusion of these two players meant that Moeen Ali who batted at No. 6 or No. 7 on previous occasions was pushed down the order to No.8. Meanwhile, Bayliss has confirmed that the team was made keeping in mind the conditions at the Oval which was assisting the Pacers but in the final Test at Old Trafford on Friday, he might opt for seven batsmen and two spinners.
Steven Finn has been officially called back to the squad after Mark Wood was ruled out due to a bruised heel. He is set to take the place of Wood and the left-arm orthodox spinner Liam Dawson might get another go and prove his mettle in the final Test starting on Friday.
“I’m still of the view we don’t need more than seven batters. We’ve got three guys like Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali who give us a lot of options, so on this occasion, we looked at the conditions, saw it was a bit green here and played the extra batsman. There wasn’t a great deal of spin, but that could be different somewhere else,” Bayliss was quoted as saying by Sky Sports after the competition of the 3rd Test in Oval.
Opener Keaton Jennings has looked totally out of sorts and despite scoring 48 in the 3rd Test, Bayliss confirmed that Jennings’ inclusion will be under threat for the 4th Test.
On asked who could be Alistair Cook’s ideal opening partner, Bayliss told BBC,
“It could be two or three guys. When we go to Australia, we’ll probably take more than a couple of openers, so it could be a number of those guys get a look-in.”
Bayliss also heaped praises on debutants from the previous match Westley and Toby Roland Jones. The latter finished with impressive figures of 8/129 – the best by any England bowler on debut since James Kirtley in 2003.
“They were outstanding,” he told Sky Sports. “We’ve tried some guys in the past who have done well early on, but hopefully we’ll be talking like this about them after they have played 10 to 15 Tests.
“Westley has fitted into the squad very easily and looks comfortable around the group. And Toby looks as if one of his strengths is accuracy. We haven’t got the out-and-out pace that Australia has, so you’ve got to be able to put the ball in the right areas and Toby’s done that.”
English captain Joe Root praised former captain Cook and Stokes who played brilliantly. While Cook made 88 in the 1st essay Stokes made 112.
“There’s no point in making excuses,” Root said. “The way we performed at Trent Bridge wasn’t good enough. But we responded very well. To come out of a difficult week, but on a wicket which probably was slightly bowler-friendly and play how we did was fantastic. Alastair Cook set the example and showed us how it was done at the top of the order. His innings was crucial.
“At no point did any of us get ourselves out. We made them get us out and we still scored at three-and-a-half an over which shows we’re always going to be able to move the board forward. We batted at a very good tempo and have set the benchmark for the way to approach things in the future.
“Stokes has always been a great player but over the last year he’s really matured and found ways to be more consistent. He has a great cricket brain, which he doesn’t always get a lot of credit for. He’s a person you know you can turn to under pressure to wrestle a game back in your favour and this week is a fine example of what he’s capable of,” Root said.