England played like 'rabbits in the headlights', accepts Trevor bayliss

After a dismal show with the bat on the first day, England Head coach Trevor Bayliss admits that the team played like ‘rabbits in the headlights’. Being bundled out for a paltry 58, none of the English batters looked convincing at the crease. It was a worthy 33 from Craig Overton that helped them go past their lowest total of 45 in Test cricket, registered in 1887 against the Aussies. At one stage reeling at 23-8, the lowest total of 26 in Test cricket by New Zealand looked vulnerable before some lower order contributions came to the visitors’ rescue.

It was the first ever D/N Test match to be staged in New Zealand that saw an unforgettable outing for the Brits more so when the home side ended the day’s play with 175-3, leading by 117 runs with four days of play still to go. Discussing in the hindsight about the day’s proceedings, Trevor Bayliss reflected on the team’s performance and the inaccurate execution of the plans.

Looked like ‘rabbits in the headlights’

As per the coach, it was one of those days at the office when the going was tough for the team, “It’s one of the more difficult ones, that’s for sure,” Bayliss told Sky Sports after the day’s play. The coach didn’t seem a happy man especially with the batting effort as the batsmen always find themselves short of anything that was pitched up given the lack of footwork and kept it playing just with hands.

“I think it must have been a mental thing. Our feet looked like they had lead in them and we didn’t make too many right decisions with our footwork. We certainly got caught behind the crease to fairly fully balls, which allowed the ball to swing. We looked a little bit like rabbits in the headlights. Today we were not just off a little bit, we were off a long way. It just wasn’t good enough.”

The practice was far from ideal

Bayliss stressed upon the lack of quality practice that the English team had before the commencement of the series. Before, they played only two two-day warm-up games and batted for two whole days and bowled for two whole days which saw some batsmen batting twice in one day and an overall lack of intensity to proceedings. Pointing out on the lack of intensity from the players, “Those practice games, it’s always a little bit difficult sometimes, “It doesn’t matter how hard you try to play the game, there’s always that lack of intensity. In that first match we were very rusty, in the second we were much better, “admitted Bayliss.

There was a case of sending the Test specialists early to get acclimatized to the conditions given others were already involved playing the limited overs leg against the Kiwis. But the coach was even more concerned about the burnout of certain players who play all the formats. “If they play everything, they’re probably mentally fatigued now,” said Bayliss. “Certainly the guys who’ve had a long four or five months. What can you do when you’ve got so many games on? What’s the answer? I’m not sure if anyone’s got the answer. We’re trying to give them a rest when it’s possible.”