England have learnt their lessons: Trevor Bayliss

Joe Root‘s England side received a wake-up call after a strong comeback by the visiting West Indies side saw the series leveled at 1-1, going into the 3rd Test match at Lords. England failed to fire in the 1st innings but put on a strong performance in the 2nd innings, after piling up 490/8 on the board. A target of 320-plus runs in the fourth innings always looked daunting but a fabulous turn around saw the touring side win the 2nd Test by 5 wickets.

Coach Bayliss hopeful of the top five coming good

The England coach Trevor Bayliss has admitted that he has kept his fingers crossed when it comes to the top five bat batsmen. He hopes that the likes of  Tom Westley, Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan will be able to cement their place with some solid performance in the coming time, so that England can go to the Ashes with a stable line-up

“It was probably a bit more difficult than it looked [on day one] but I still thought it was a good wicket,” Bayliss said. “The one thing I was very happy about was the second innings. They learnt their lessons. They spoke about not going for the big drives. The thing that surprised them about the wicket on the first day was how slow it was and we got out a number of times off the inside edge. In the second innings, it was about batting for a long period of time and I thought they showed a lot of character.”

“More than anything they started to look comfortable at the crease,” he said. “Mark looks like a tough type of a player to me. He looks like he’s ready for a scrap the whole time but when the bad ball comes along, he is able to put it away. Dawid has a couple of 60s now and I thought he was starting to look more comfortable in this Test match.” The final Test of the series is “another opportunity” for both to secure Ashes spots. “They’ve started to look comfortable and they can both play off the back foot so the signs are looking good. As you know, we’ve said that before. To be honest, I’ve still got my fingers crossed for them.” England have named a 13-man unchanged squad for the third and final Test match at Lords, starting on September 7.