Tuesday 31 May 2016 12:20, UK
Head coach Trevor Bayliss insists that England still have plenty of improvements to make despite securing a Test series win over Sri Lanka with a match to spare.
Bayliss' side followed up their innings victory at Headingley with a nine-wicket triumph in Durham as Alastair Cook became the first Englishman to reach 10,000 Test runs and James Anderson went past 450 Test wickets.
However, while pleased with the overall performances so far in the series, when asked to give his team a mark out of 10, Bayliss made it clear that England still have work to do with both bat and ball.
"Eight out of 10, always leave a little room for improvement," he told Sky Sports. "I suppose bowling on flattish type wickets, we've got to work a little harder and not get away from our game plan.
"Sometimes I think we try a little too hard to take wickets, we try to take a wicket too often and try too much when often bowling the old 'Plan A', top of off stump, is the most effective, even on flattish wickets.
"I'd like to see our batters turn some of their starts into bigger scores as well. We're certainly still a work in process."
The Australian did speak highly of two players brought into the team for the series - James Vince, who made his Test debut in the game at Headingley, and Chris Woakes who returned to the side at the Emirates Riverside.
"From my point of view, James Vince looks the part," said Bayliss. "He's only had a couple of innings but the time he spent with the team in the UAE and the T20s, man of the series there - he's the whole package when it comes to batting.
"He plays front and back foot, both sides of the wicket and has a good level-head on his shoulders so I think he'll give himself the best chance to succeed.
"Woakesy is just a good cricketer, isn't he? Bowls well, bats well. His test will come on the flatter types of wickets.
"When we play here in England, with the ball moving about, he can be very dangerous and he's young enough, good enough and skilful enough to make it work on flatter wickets as well."
Bayliss had a stint as Sri Lanka coach between 2007 and 2011 and despite their struggles, he has backed his former side to come good in the next few years.
"I'm not sure how easy it was. On the scoreboard it looks easier but the last two days they've played some very good cricket," added the 53-year-old.
"They've got some good players and are probably in a rebuilding phase after Mahela (Jayawardena) and (Kumar) Sangakkara have retired but they've got some very, very good players as they've shown in the last two days.
"Even some of their young players look like they've got a lot of ability and we won't be able to take anything lightly in the third Test. I'm sure they'll be playing some good cricket going forward and over the next three or four years they'll be very hard to beat."
