London - England head coach Trevor Bayliss intends to rehire Saqlain Mushtaq as the team’s spin-bowling consultant following positive feedback from Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
Saqlain was originally brought into the coaching setup on a week-long deal that spanned England’s 330-run victory in the second Test but with winter tours to Bangladesh and India coming up – the former subject to clearance by the security director Reg Dickason next month – Bayliss will advise Andrew Strauss, the director of cricket, that more time with the former Pakistan off-spinner would be beneficial.
Speaking after the win at Old Trafford, where the Yorkshire leg-spinner Rashid missed out on selection for the final XI but Moeen claimed match figures of five for 131, Bayliss said: “Both Mo and Rash enjoyed working with him very much. By the sound of it, it was very positive and we’ll look to use him again.
“It wasn’t necessarily a lot of technical coaching – I’m sure he mentioned one or two things – it was more tactical. That’s where we think both Rash and Mo need to make improvements to go ahead in the international game.”
Bayliss said: “To be honest, I’m not sure what he’s trying to bowl on those occasions. He has put himself under a bit of pressure, I think. When you do that, it’s difficult to bowl at this level. But he bowls wicket-taking balls. For me, he’s got to work on his consistency to get the ball to bounce in the one spot a lot more often.”
While Peter Such is England’s lead spin-bowling coach, he works predominantly with the next generation at the national academy in Loughborough and around the counties; Bayliss would like a full-time spin coach in for the first-team squad but the challenge is finding greats of the game who will commit.
He added: “If you’ve got the right person, that would be a possibility. It’s good to have someone like Saqlain come in – people that have been top of their field in the past and are able to pass on their knowledge. Those greats very rarely get involved full-time, so you do have to bring them in series by series.”