England coach Trevor Bayliss has demanded that the batsmen stand up and make their presence felt in the County Championship before the home summer season begins for the team.
After the tours of Australia and New Zealand saw the English return without a Test win in seven matches, Bayliss has refused to guarantee any spots to the top order, according to reports in Cricket Australia.
"There are chances available (for selection) – if you're scoring a lot of runs and taking a lot of wickets, you're going to be very close.
"I don't think there's anyone at home putting their hand up at the moment and saying come and pick me.”
In the recently completed Test series’ the only batsman who managed to save his pride was captain Joe Root with an average of above 40 in both the Ashes and in New Zealand. Wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow the next best performer with 469 runs at 36.07.
Even though most of the English batting did not do well, Dawid Malan would consider his spot safe in the side as he managed four half-centuries to go along with a century from the seven Test matches, with an average of 35.46.
Veteran batsman Alastair Cook will be looking to right the wrongs and get some runs on the board. Cook, who scored a brilliant 244 not out in Melbourne, could not replicate the form in the rest of the games and finished with an aggregate of 155 runs in the rest of the 12 innings.
Among the rest of the English batsmen, it was Mark Stoneman and James Vince who stood out with an average of 30 but neither managed to convert their starts to big scores. The only centurions for England on the tours to Australia and New Zealand were Bairstow (twice), Malan and Cook.
With the county season set to begin on April 13th, England coach Bayliss is hoping his batsmen will turn the tide and return to the national side in better form.
"Those early matches back home, I think, will mean a lot," Bayliss said.
"The same questions are still there but I'm not sure there are better players out of the team at the moment.
"So who do we replace them with?"
"There are some young players on the cusp but I guess this is a call-out to the guys in county cricket – the first few matches of the season are very important."
GET APP
Live TV