Delighted with three lions' 2-0 unassailable lead in the three-match series and the astonishing feat of winning a Test series in Sri Lanka, head coach Trevor Bayliss has said that it feels good to have a "fantastic" team effort and decision making paying off eventually. The Joe Root led side clinched their first title in the Island nation since 2001 and made rewrote history following domination at Galle with a 57 run win at Pallekele.
"Obviously it can be very difficult to come here and play a team in their home conditions, but it's been a fantastic effort by all 11 players," Bayliss was quoted saying on Sky Sports, "I think the fact that we have gone in a little differently has shown that, in past series we've talked about possibly playing different combinations but when it's got to it we haven't."
Having endured disappointments in Bangladesh and India on their last trip to the subcontinent, England employed sound tactical ploys to the counter the challenge of facing spin in these conditions and made genuine materialistic changes with their decision making, in Sri Lanka.
Very respectfully, Joe Root's men looked extremely determined to prove a point and excel an overseas tour rather than just sleep through it.
Bayliss further stated, "But on this occasion, we said 'no, look, it's time to actually play the conditions', and if that means some good players miss out then, unfortunately, that's the way it goes."
The coach also showered praise on skipper Joe Root, who led from the front scoring an outstanding ton in the second Test and earned man of the match award for his brilliance, and said, "It(the third innings knock of 124 off just 146 balls) was right up there, especially in these conditions, which were something completely different to what he's faced before," before emphasizing, "He was under a bit of pressure of wanting his players to go out and play that way, so it was a great innings."
"He was probably a little bit nervous early on, but once you got in on this wicket, it wasn't impossible to play, which we saw from a number of players getting 50s and 60s in this match. But the wicket was hard to start on so credit to him," he stressed.
Bayliss is also highly impressed with the massive improvement shown from the spin trio of Moeen Ali, Jake Leach and Adil Rashid.
He said, "In the first innings we were a bit below par, with not enough balls in the right area, but we spoke about that and, under pressure to perform in the second innings, they did a fantastic job."
"It's good to know that all the hard work from a coach's point of view pays off as well, We certainly don't have to goad the players into doing anything extra, sometimes it's quite the opposite. But there were some brilliant catches," and signed off.
The third Test at SSC, Colombo kickstarts on Friday, November 23.
