Trevor Bayliss has expressed concerns over “struggling” Keaton Jennings and described England’s batting in Bridgetown as lacking in mental fortitude.
The England coach was left visibly irked by the 381-run defeat by West Indies, little surprise after his side collapsed to 77 all out in their first innings, then went on to be rolled over by an eight-wicket part-timer, Roston Chase.
“I’m speechless,” said Bayliss, before eventually finding the words. “I think it gets down to a bit of guts and determination to get through those tough periods. They bowled extremely well against us but we have got to be able to deal with it.”
Bayliss will sit down with the selector, Ed Smith, and the captain, Joe Root, after the team land in Antigua on Monday to discuss options for Thursday’s second Test. It may well be that in time-honoured tradition the bowling attack is shaken up in response to a batting failure. Nevertheless, Jennings presents a long-standing headache.
The opener was one half of an opening stand of 85 on the fourth and final day with Rory Burns and made a century against Sri Lanka four Test matches ago. But a second stiff-legged drive in the match on 14 left him averaging 17 from 11 Tests against the seaming Dukes ball and Smith may lobby for his former Kent teammate, Joe Denly, to come in.
“Keaton is struggling a little bit,” Bayliss said. “You could look at it and say they’ve put on 85, our best opening partnership [since mid-2017]. And it takes two guys to tango. [But] I’d be lying if I said we’re not worried about it and I’d be lying if I said he hadn’t been thinking about it.”
On Burns, who top-scored for England in the match with a second-innings 84, Bayliss added: “Burns has shown enough. As we said in Sri Lanka, he looks like he’s been here for 20 or 30 Tests, not four. He’s still learning and will still get better.”
Stuart Broad expressed his disappointment in a newspaper column at missing out – “I’m bowling the best I’ve ever bowled. I believe that 100 per cent. Everyone in this England group knows it too” – and will surely be restored.
It may come a Test too late on what is expected to be a less seamer-friendly surface at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
On the two-spinner, three-seamer attack deployed in Bridgetown, which saw Jimmy Anderson and Ben Stokes bowled into the ground as Sam Curran, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid struggled, Bayliss was unrepentant.
He said: “You make those decisions thinking the five guys you pick are going to bowl as well as we know they can do. Take Stokes and Anderson out, maybe one spell of Moeen, and we were far from our best in this match. We have a bit of work to do there.
“It was down to Curran or Broad. The gut feel was Curran; he has done well for us over the last seven games. It didn’t work out like that, the young bloke has had his first bad Test in his career. It won’t be his last but he’s a good young player who will learn from it.”
Like Root, Bayliss hopes England follow a “rollercoaster” recent trend that has seen harrowing Test defeats followed up with victory. “The boys are in the dressing room hurting and I’d be worried if they weren’t. But we’ve been in this situation before and come out and played some good cricket. So I’m looking forward to the next Test.”