LONDON: England had their ‘backsides smacked’ in the humbling 405-loss to Australia in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s on Sunday, according to their coach Trevor Bayliss.

The hosts crumbled to 103 all out in around three hours on the fourth day as a rampant Australian side levelled the series in emphatic fashion.

“We were outplayed in this game. It’s never a great start when they’re 300 for one and we were always chasing the game from there,” Bayliss told reporters.

Australian Bayliss led England to a surprise 169-run victory in the opening Test in Cardiff, his first match in charge of the team.

“We knew the Australians would come back hard in this match, and they will be full of confidence now they’ve got their A-game back,” the 52-year-old said. “What we’ve got to do is go into the third game and worry about what we’re doing, not what they’re doing.”

England recovered from 30-4 in their first innings to score a respectable 312, although it was well short of Australia’s massive total of 566-8 declared after they won the toss.

“I was very happy in our first batting innings — 4-30 is not a great start, but I thought we played well to finish up with over 300,” Bayliss said. “I don’t think we used the new ball terribly well on the first morning and we just let them get away.”

Bayliss admitted his team’s bowling at Lord’s was not good enough.

“If you look at the two matches our bowling down in Cardiff was very consistent,” he said. “I don’t think in this game we were quite as consistent with our lines and lengths and that just allowed the Australian batters to get on top.”

Batsmen Adam Lyth, Gary Ballance and Ian Bell are all under pressure for their places in the team for the next Test at Edgbaston.

“We’ve got a meeting on Tuesday and I’m sure there’s some things to be spoken about,” Bayliss said. “I’m not going to say anything just yet. I’ll wait until I get together with the other selectors on Tuesday to discuss that.”

Bayliss also defended England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was run out during the second-innings collapse after committing the cardinal error of failing to ground his bat.

Published in Dawn,July 21st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play