Incoming head coach Trevor Bayliss is ready to throw himself into England’s Ashes preparations when he touches down on Thursday. England’s first Australian coach has a short lead-in to the hotly-anticipated series — meeting captain Alastair Cook over dinner on Friday, leading the squad on a get-to-know-you trip to Spain the following day and taking charge of his first Test on July 8.
It’s a tough ask to plot and impart a blueprint for success in that time-frame, but caretaker coach Paul Farbrace has at least left him a firm base to work from, drawing the Test series against New Zealand and winning both ODI and T20 formats.Speaking to Fox Sports at Sydney airport, Bayliss said: “I’ll get to know the players, number one...apart from that, a little bit of planning before the Ashes.
“It’ll be some good fun, I think. I’ll be just doing things the way I normally do with any of the cricket teams I’ve been involved in and hopefully that means England playing some good cricket. Hopefully (there’ll be) two teams playing some good cricket, and it’s a win-win for the game of cricket.“I’m confident of putting up a good show and if they play some good cricket, there’ll be a chance of winning.”
Hussey predicts tough Ashes
Australia’s veteran batsman Mike Hussey on Wednesday said the upcoming Ashes series between hosts England and Australia will be a tough contest, adding that batsman Joe Root will be the key for the home side.Hussey was particularly impressed with England’s Root, a player who came under a lot of scrutiny following England’s 0-5 Ashes whitewash in Australia 18 months ago. “I think it’s going to be a really tough series, I really do but we’ve got a great squad and a great team and I know they’ll be very, very determined to do well,” Hussey was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald.
Eng mustn’t be afraid: Vaughan
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan on Wednesday said his countrymen should not be afraid of losing if they are to beat Australia and regain the Ashes.“They have to take Australia on with the mentality of ‘we don’t care about losing’ because that will make the Aussies fear them more,” Vaughan was quoted as saying by bbc.com. Vaughan, who led England to Ashes success in 2005, says he can see parallels between this summer and that successful campaign of 10 years ago. “I can sense the country is really enjoying cricket,” the 40-year-old said.