Bayliss must enable his team to play without fear
England's new coach has very little time to prepare for Ashes battle
Trevor Bayliss only has two weeks to prepare England for the Ashes clash
We are now stuck in phoney-war territory. This happens because an Ashes series remains irresistibly special. There was evidence of this at Canterbury, where there were 6,000 souls each day at the Spitfire Ground, making a little pilgrimage to watch Chris Rogers and Rob Key bat, which is not usually the case.
It is to English cricket's great delight and financial benefit that an Ashes clash continues to matter so much, even though these games currently seem to come around with the frequency of another series of Masterchef. Hence the phoney war, which is seldom in evidence for other series.
