Adelaide, Nov 12 (IANS) England coach Trevor Bayliss has warned his batsmen that they will have to produce big scores in order to win the upcoming Ashes series against bitter rivals Australia.

The England batsmen struck five half-centuries on their way to a 192-run victory in a four-day warm-up match against Cricket Australia XI.

But none of them could go above the mid-sixties and the visitors also showed a tendency to lose early wickets.

“Sixties aren’t enough. We need 160s. Batting collapses have been a concern for us for a little while. We have games like that, where we lose wickets like that, and it is a concern,” Bayliss was quoted as saying by espncricinfo on Sunday.

“The batsmen realise they have got to do better and they are working hard to do that,” he added.

With the Ashes scheduled to begin on November 23, the 54-year-old urged the England batsmen to tune up their form in the final warm-up match which starts in Townsville on Wednesday.

“By all accounts the wicket in Townsville is a pretty good one. It’s quite flat. Hopefully that will help our batters make some big scores. Not just spend time in the middle, but make 100s. That’s definitely what we will need throughout this Test series,” Bayliss said.

“It would be great if we could have some hundreds, that’s for sure. Obviously once the Test series comes around, the intensity of that competition, hopefully that really kicks our batters into gear.”

–IANS
ajb/bg