Published: Jan 30, 2019, 03:31 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 30, 2019, 03:31 PM (IST)
England coach Trevor Bayliss has called on his team to show some guts, his opposite number Richard Pybus is expecting a fightback from the visitors and now Rory Burns has said that he and his team-mates will use the crushing defeat at Kensington Oval as a lesson heading into the second Test.
Joe Root’s team was beaten by 381 runs last week to trail 0-1 in the three-Test series, which left Bayliss wondering whether the problem was mental instead of just technical. As the second Test gets underway at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday, the opener Burns said that the team was focused on putting in a far improved performance. (READ MORE: After routing England, West Indies begin to chart new territory)
“Finishing the Test there was obviously disappointment that we hadn’t performed as well as we wanted to,” he told Sky Sports. “But leaving the ground it was, ‘how do we respond? How do we come back from that?’ and almost to use it as a lesson and something to build on, placing a higher value on your wicket and transfer pressure back onto bowlers if they bowl well.
“There are a few meetings before and after (the match) where we’ll talk about these things and how we get better and how we keep improving. It’s a bit of a blip but how do we take that forward? How do we use that as a lesson and improve?” (READ MORE: Windies bring in Oshane Thomas as cover for Alzarri Joseph)
Being bowled out for 77 was the major reason for England’s defeat, and once West Indies skipper Jason Holder scored a monumental 202 not out to help set the visitors a target of 628, the game was as good as over. In that spectacular collapse triggered by Kemar Roach’s five wickets, with pressure applied by Holder, the highest score was Keaton Jennings’ 17.
In the second innings, England made 246 with only Burns (84) managing more than 34.
“It’s different with every individual and how they’re attacking their games,” he said. “It comes down to your own personal game-plan and how you want to implement it. I’m going to be different to someone like Stokesy [Ben Stokes], for example. How you go about it is your own personal responsibility when you go out to bat or bowl and … execute what you want to.
“I felt like I played quite nicely (in the second innings) but it was disappointing to miss out as well. It’s something to build on and something to improve upon. It’s a good thing. From the first innings, I went away and thought about whether I’d missed out on things and I didn’t think I had and in that second innings I just tried to transfer a bit of pressure back onto the bowlers, I had a little bit of a look at them after the first innings so yeah, the tempo was quite nice and I’ll try and keep it up.”
