Cricket World Cup: Trevor Bayliss vows to walk away even if hosts complete World Cup and Ashes dream double
Trevor Bayliss insists he will walk away from the England job even if they complete an astonishing World Cup and Ashes double.
The England coach oversaw Eoin Morgan’s side as they marched into a first men’s World Cup final since 1992 by beating their Australian counterparts.
If the favourites can beat New Zealand, it will cap a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the world’s top-ranked team; who just four years ago crashed out in the group stages in Australia.
And with an Ashes series in England to come, it could be a fruitful summer for the hosts.
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But Bayliss insists he will walk away from the role at the end of the summer, when his contract expires, regardless of those results.
“I have always been a believer that four or five years is long enough, whether you are doing well or not,” Bayliss said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It is time for a new voice for the boys, to hopefully take them to another level.”
2015 was seen as a turning point for this England side - finishing with just two wins from six games.
Morgan’s men crashed out of the tournament in double-quick time, losing to Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
And just four short years later, they are on the cusp of fulfilling a ‘dream’ revival.
He added: “Four years ago after the last World Cup, which was not good for England, we set out and had planning to hopefully win the 2019 edition, and it feels great that now we have a chance to fulfil those dreams.
“We had a chat in the changing room (at Edgbaston) afterwards and realised we have not won anything yet.
“There is going to be a lot of noise around ‘you guys are the favourites’ – we can’t listen to any of that.
“We have just got to concentrate on the way we have gone about our cricket over the past four years and what has got us to this point and go through our process.
“If we do that, we know we will play good cricket and the opposition will have to play even better to beat us.”
Jason Roy starred with the bat as the hosts eviscerated a strong Australian attack - scoring 85 from 65 balls.
But his spell in the middle came to an end when he was adjudged to have gloved behind - despite comfortably missing - but could not review the decision.
Roy was visibly furious as he left the pitch - remonstrating with the officials before doing so - and was subsequently fined 30% of his match fee and handed two demerit points.
Bayliss, though, backed his opening batter.
“I think it shows the passion Jason has got for the game, and it is such a big game as well, when he was on the verge of scoring a hundred,” he said.
“He will learn from that and go on to bigger and better things, I am sure.”
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