The hosts England suffered an unexpected defeat against Sri Lanka on Friday (21 June). Their openers faltered and the team really missed the services of their injured opener Jason Roy. However, England coach Trevor Bayliss is adamant on not playing Roy until he is fully fit.
He admitted that they missed Roy at the top of the order, but he said that the injured opener will be kept out until he fully recovers to avoid aggravating his injury.
Trevor said, “If someone of Jason's ilk is not playing, of course, you're going to miss someone like that. That's the game. He's injured and I'm not exactly sure when he'll be back, but we are looking forward to him coming back.”
“We're not going to risk him that's for sure. We'll play each game as it comes and gets the medical people to let us know whether they think he is right for the next game. If he's not, well we'll do the same heading into the next game,” he added.
Roy’s replacement James Vince has got starts in both the matches but then threw his wicket away. It is more frustrating for Vince than the rest of the team is what Bayliss believes. The young Hampshire batsman is more talented than what his numbers show in the World Cup.
On Vince, the 56-year-old said, “He looks a million dollars then he finds a way to get out. Hopefully, he's one of those guys who can put one together and it tips him over the edge and he gets a string of big scores. He's certainly a good player, but he'll be looking to play a longer dig.”
England have three tough games ahead, against the top 3 teams in the points table right now; Australia, New Zealand and India. The hosts cannot afford another blip in their campaign and have to keep their form up there.
Bayliss talked about the future of England’s campaign in the tournament saying, “The three teams we've got coming up are good teams and we know what we're going to get from those three teams. We didn't play as well as we'd like in this last game and maybe we let one slip, but we have been in this situation before and it hasn't stopped us coming out and playing well in the next game.”
“We'll be looking to bounce back and play a good game. We know what we can expect from those three good teams that we've got to come so I think our minds will be on the job. You're not safe until you've got enough points and nobody else can get past you,” he added.
(Inputs from AFP)
