England, who lead the four-match series 2-1, head into the Oval Test as favourites to clinch another home series win.
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England coach Trevor Bayliss speaks about the idea of playing two spinners in the final Test against Pakistan and speaks about Moeen Ali’s performance in the win over Pakistan in the third Test at Edgbaston.
“If the wickets are anything like South Africa had in India, that’s a possibility”.
After travelling from Birmingham to London on Monday, the unchanged 13-man England squad will practise at the Oval on Tuesday afternoon before the top seven batsmen go out for dinner with David Gower. However that could change in the final game of the series with Bayliss expecting the pitch to keep the spinners interested, as it did during last year’s Ashes Test against Australia.
Asked if England may be tempted to pick Rashid this time, he said: “Very”.
“Lyon bowled very well there, got some spin and bounce”.
“I’ve thought Rashid’s been a chance for the last two or three Tests”. At some stage, he’ll get an opportunity.
And he believes spin-friendly conditions at The Kia Oval would be the flawless place to play two spinners for the first time since Simon Kerrigan debuted alongside Graeme Swann in an Ashes dead rubber three years ago.
“The spell just after lunch that he and Broad put together in partnership there, quite simply the difference with his bowling in that spell was his discipline of length”, Bayliss said. Obviously, we are going to the subcontinent, so he’s probably the guy who will get the first opportunity there. It’s a bit harder then to run down the wicket and hit over the top and play reverse-sweeps and sweeps. I think it’s made me the bowler I am, so I don’t want to lose that.
Finn’s bowling, like Moeen’s, had previously been a worry – but England have retained faith in him.
“If he slightly touched the line or went over the line, we fixed it up pretty quickly – and everything was sweet with the umpires”.
“I thought a year ago he bowled extremely well against Australia”. If he’s in the team as one of four pace bowlers, we could have two spinners. I think we have got more time on our side.
“Again (on Sunday), I thought he stepped it up again from the last Test”.
Anderson had to be taken out of the attack towards the end of Pakistan’s first innings, for the second time this year, for running on the pitch.
Before that, he had lost his temper with both Joel Wilson and Bruce Oxenford, the two on-field umpires, when he was initially warned about straying into the danger area and Anderson later apologised for what he admitted was “unacceptable behaviour”.
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Anderson escaped any punishment from match referee Richie Richardson, the former West Indies captain, and Bayliss was happy with the way Anderson dealt with the fall-out. So for us to bounce back the way we did when we had our backs to the wall said a lot about our character and it could also deflate them.
