England haven’t had it all their own way in 2016 but nobody expected Trevor Bayliss’ men to fall to pieces in their five-match tour of India this winter. After drawing the opening Test match in Rajkot, England lost four games in a row – and they weren’t even close to victory in any of these fixtures. In fact, India’s innings of 759-7 before declaring in the fifth and final contest of the series showed just how easy the hosts have found it against Bayliss’ side.
India were by far and away the better side throughout the competition but it was the manner of England’s defeat that will worry some supporters. India won the second Test by a mammoth 246 runs, the third by eight wickets, the fourth by an innings and 36 runs, and the fifth by an innings and 75 runs; about as comprehensive as it gets in cricket. The hosts scored 3,367 runs in nine innings; a solid score compared to England’s mediocre effort of 3,008 from the maximum ten innings.
However, it isn’t all doom and gloom for the Barmy Army. Alistair Cook and co might have found their new opening batsman for the future. Keaton Jennings, the highest run scorer in County cricket last season, notched a century in the fourth Test matchof the series in Mumbai. While his golden duck in the second innings will keep him grounded ahead of the next few months, Jennings could be set for a long and successful career in the national set-up.
Furthermore, Joe Root has carried his sensational form throughout the series; recording at least 50 runs in every single contest. In fact, Root has scored five half-centuries and a further ton in the opening Test match of the series helped England on their way to a well-earned draw. At the end of the day, India is a difficult place to go and England’s top order struggled to cope with India’s intense and aggressive bowling unit. While some of Bayliss’ stars were able to exploit India’s attack from time-to-time, it would be fair to say that the hosts came out on top in that particular contest throughout the series.
At the time of writing, England are 7/2 in the bet365 cricket betting odds to win the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and Bayliss will be hoping that Jennings and Root can maintain their individual form in the shorter form of the game. As previously mentioned, Jennings topped the County game with 1,548 runs in 2016 and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see the Durham batsman feature prominently for England in the coming years.
England have found it tough against one of the best Test sides on the planet and in that, there is no shame whatsoever. The manner of Bayliss’ defeat will worry England’s fans in the short term and it might not be too long before the Barmy Army supporters are celebrating more success in the longer format of the game. Alastair Cook is still capable of leading this England side to titles and silverware under Bayliss’ watchful eye and the ICC Champions Trophy is now the number one priority for English cricket in 2017.