Bayliss wants players to earn their World Cup berths

COLOMBO: Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, is understandably unhappy after the 219-run (DLS method) defeat to Sri Lanka in the final One-day International.

“It’s one thing giving guys an opportunity, but those guys have to take hold of that opportunity,” he said prior to the one-off Twenty20 International. “Those opportunities could determine who makes a World Cup squad and who doesn’t. That’s the way it is.

“It’s a tough school, international cricket. There are not too many more opportunities before the World Cup squad is picked, so some of the guys will have to turn it around pretty quick. We’re looking for some of those guys to take hold of that opportunity.

“If they do, they might find themselves in a World Cup squad. And if they don’t, well, they might miss out. There will be some disappointed guys in the changing room.”England won the-five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka 3-1, but lost the rain-affected final game by a huge margin.

“Our performance in the field, our attitude in the field, was nowhere near up-to-scratch for a No 1 team. We’ve got some hard work to do going forward,” said Bayliss.“Fielding is an attitude – you want the ball to come to you, do the simple things right, anticipating and not waiting for it to go past an inner-ring fielder. Fielding can give you confidence for the rest of your game – it’s the one thing that we all do together, but we weren’t on our game and that showed and passed over into our bowling and batting performance.”

England have most of their boxes ticked in the 50-over format. They have a formidable batting unit with an explosive top order and a consistent middle order, and their spin department is well stocked with the likes of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.

“Our batting and spin-bowling line-up is pretty well set ahead of the World Cup, so it comes down to pace bowling,” Bayliss pointed out.“The West Indies series could mean a lot in that respect. Winning the series is what we set out to do, so I’m very happy in being able to achieve that.”