Published: Jun 01, 2016, 10:35 AM (IST)
Edited: Jun 01, 2016, 12:05 PM (IST)
England Head coach Trevor Bailey wants improvement from his side in order to attain the top spot in the Test rankings. England, who have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead over Sri Lanka in their ongoing series, are currently ranked No.4 in the Test format. The last year was a good season for England in the 5-day format. They started off with drawn series against West Indies and New Zealand, before beating Australia to win the Ashes. Soon after, they suffered their only series defeat in the hands of Pakistan, but bounced back to beat a strong South African side. ALSO READ: Cook has it in him to surpass Tendulkar: Bayliss
The upcoming series against Pakistan provides England the chance to move upto second. But Bayliss won’t be contend with that. After the 2nd Test win over Sri Lanka, cricket.com.au reported him saying, “Not really, only other than nothing’s really changed. We’re not a team in transition but we’ve still got a long way to go before we reach our best or a position or way of playing the game that I think everyone would be happy with,”
“If we want to compete against Australia, who are the No1 team at the moment, on a consistent basis there are areas we need to improve. So we are still a work in progress.” ALSO READ: ENG vs SL 2016: ENG announce unchanged squad for 3rd Test against SL
Despite mauling their opponents in the two games, Bayliss demands a bit more from a few bowlers. “Probably bowling on the flatter, spin-bowling wickets we can keep it tight but we’ve got room for improvement in terms of taking wickets. I think our batting needs to improve against spin bowling as well. We did play well in the UAE against Pakistan last year so we know we can score runs.”
The former Kolkata Knight Riders coach also backed English skipper Alastair Cook to beat Sachin Tendulkar’s Test runs record. “It will be about how long he wants to keep doing it. But certainly, there is time on his side, so there is no reason he couldn’t if his heart is still in it and his will to do it is still there.”
“He is right up there with any of the best international players. He has these powers of concentration. He is not the biggest stroke-player of all time (but) he knows his game very well, he is very patient and he sticks to it. To be able to do that over the period of time he has played and score as many runs as he has is a fantastic effort.”
