The Ashes 2015: Darren Lehmann expects new England coach Trevor Bayliss to bring attacking verve

AUSTRALIA coach Darren Lehmann is expecting former NSW and ex-Sri Lanka mentor Trevor Bayliss to bring a new attacking style to the England camp

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 28: Australian coach Darren Lehmann looks on during an Australian nets session at Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 28, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

THE clock is ticking for England to evolve into an attacking Test team.

Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne are among the former Australia stars who’ve been critical of England captain Alastair Cook’s tactic of waiting for a mistake by the opposition, rather than taking the game by the scruff of the neck.

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Australia coach Darren Lehmann is expecting former NSW and ex-Sri Lanka mentor Trevor Bayliss to bring a new attacking style to the England camp. But given Bayliss is yet to land in England and the first Ashes Test starts on July 8 in Cardiff, time is running out.

“They’ll probably play a bit like we play,” Lehmann said on Sunday after Australia completed a two-nil sweep of the West Indies in the second Test in Kingston.

“That’s what they are trying to do.

“So it’s going to be on for young and old. It’s going to be entertaining for everyone and it’s going to be an exciting series.

Lehmann predicts and exciting Ashes series in England this winter.

“They’re going to be tough over there as we know and if they’re going to play that way it’s going to be the team that handles that pressure the best.

“From our point of view this is a great lead-in to that tour and now it’s about getting prepared for the Ashes.

“They’ve got some things they’re trying to work on and Trevor will have them getting the way they want to play and he has got to do that pretty quickly.”

Australia has not won an Ashes series in England since 2001.

Lehmann says he won’t be following Allan Border’s example by giving his rival the silent treatment.

“Nah,” Lehmann said.

“We’re playing a game aren’t we? He’s a good mate of a lot of people in our (change) room.

“We know how he wants to go about it. We can only do what we can do on the ground.”

Australia captain Michael Clarke has been connected with Bayliss since his junior cricket days as a teenager.

“I’m happy for TB,” Clarke said.

“TB will do a fantastic job for England. He coached Sri Lanka when we played against Sri Lanka so there’ll be no real surprises.

“He’s a good man TB and a very good coach.”

Clarke welcomes the challenge of playing an England side that takes the game up to Australia.

“They might come hard at us. Whatever they throw up we’ll be prepared,” Clarke said.

Australia’s fast-bowling depth, led by young guns Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc who out-performed Mitchell Johnson in the series against the West Indies, is a trump card for Clarke and Lehmann in the Ashes.

Hazlewood was man of the series in the West Indies with 12 wickets at 8.83.

Bayliss has yet to arrive in England to start his new job.

The return of strike bowler Ryan Harris for the Ashes series could leave Hazlewood and Starc vying for the chance to partner Harris and Mitchell Johnson in Cardiff.

Australia’s selector-on-duty Mark Waugh said during a TV commentary stint during the second Test he feels Starc is the best bowler in world cricket at the moment.

Lehmann says Australia’s bowling performances in the second Test were “very pleasing”, dismissing the Windies for 220 and 114.

Coach and selector Lehmann wouldn’t be drawn on who might miss out for the Cardiff Test. He says Starc, 25, and Hazlewood, 24, have bright futures in Test cricket.

“It’s good to have those guys swinging the ball and bowling with good pace and control,” Lehmann said.

“The pleasing thing for me is we don’t let sides away too easily.

“Now they’re scoring runs quite slowly.”

Not only did Hazlewood take 12 wickets, he conceded less than two runs per over.

While Johnson wasn’t the leader of Australia’s pace barrage in the Caribbean, Lehmann says due consideration will be given to the way Johnson monstered England in the 2013/14 series in Australia.

“It’s going to be a tough call on someone,” Lehmann said.

Originally published as The Ashes 2015: Darren Lehmann expects new England coach Trevor Bayliss to bring attacking verve