LONDON — New coach Trevor Bayliss has promised that an attack-minded England will fight fire with fire and will not be intimidated by Australia when the Ashes series starts next week. The 52-year-old former Sri Lanka coach will take charge of England for the first time when the Ashes get underway in Cardiff on July 8.
Australian Bayliss is fully aware of the approach England must adopt if it is to reclaim the Ashes from his compatriots.
“To be successful against Australia, it's certainly not going to be by taking a backward step or allowing the Australians just to dictate terms,” Bayliss said.
“You've got to get out and fight fire with fire, be positive and aggressive and the individuals have to play their own natural game.
“I think going forward with this group of players he (captain Alastair Cook) has got, you will see a bright, attacking style of cricket being played.”
England impressed during the drawn series against New Zealand before winning the subsequent One-Day International series 3-2 with a thrilling brand of attacking cricket.
Bayliss is hoping for more of the same.
“I'm all for playing the game in an aggressive manner,” he said. “It gets down to how individuals actually are able to put up with it — how they are able to react to it or whether they react to it. Some will and some won't.
“If you look in history at the best players in the world, they've all been self-reliant.
“Not only are they single-minded and they know what to do off the field and how to prepare, they are able to make decisions for themselves out on the ground, rather than look to the coaching staff for an answer.” England traveled to Spain for a four-day training camp ahead of the Ashes and Bayliss said it was a great opportunity to build relationships.
“We had some good meetings,” he said.
“It was important that I got across to the players that I don't bite. That they're more than welcome to come and ask me any questions or get involved with any conversations.”
England named their squad for that match on Wednesday, with the XI who finished the drawn two-Test series with New Zealand plus Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid and Middlesex fast bowler Steven Finn all selected.
England won plaudits for the way in which it transformed its white-ball play by beating World Cup finalist New Zealand 3-2 with a series of dynamic displays in a recent ODI series under the guidance of Paul Farbrace, now Bayliss's deputy.
Whether England can maintain a similarly aggressive approach under Cook, who didn't feature in the one-dayers and has been accused of being excessively cautious, is one of the intriguing sub-plots of this season's Ashes.— Agencies
