England Cricket Team head coach Trevor Bayliss, on Sunday, defended captain Joe Root’s decision to bowl first in the day-night Ashes Test at The Adelaide Oval against Australia. The hosts have ended the Day two in a commanding position and declared at 442-8.
On Sunday, Joe Root became the first captain to win the toss and opt to bowl first in a day-night Test- the second Ashes Test of the 2017-18 prestigious series between the two rivals.
The Australians declared at 442-8, with the help of Shaun Marsh’s an unbeaten 126, and then the Australian bowlers reduced the defending champions England to 29-1 before rain intervened the game. Root’s bold call drew comparisons with Nasser Hussain’s disastrous bowl-first decision in Brisbane 15 years ago, but England coach said he is “very happy with his decision”.
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Speaking to BT Sport, Trevor Bayliss said, “Very happy with his decision. It’s a well-documented fact that we’ve struggled to take wickets on flat ones and Joe wanted to give our bowlers the best opportunity to take 20 wickets in the match. Before the first rain break [on Saturday], I thought we were a little bit short but we came out after that and I thought we bowled pretty well yesterday.”
The coach further added, “We went past the bat a lot, but that’s the game. We’ve got to put up with that. On another day, an extra two or three nicks, it might have been a completely different story. That’s gone now and we’ve got to concentrate on our batting tomorrow.”
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On being asked about the prospect of calling up Mark Wood, Bayliss concluded by saying, “We haven’t actually spoken about it apart from the fact that we wanted to see him play in the Lions. He’s come through a match for the Lions when were up in Brisbane ourselves, I haven’t spoken to him after the game or to Andy Flower to see how he’s pulled up. First of all, before we contemplate [calling him up], he’s got to show his fitness, but also his match fitness as well.”
