18 Oct 2015 | Cricket
England Head Coach Trevor Bayliss suspects his players now believe they can pull off a record-breaking Test series win over Pakistan after bad light denied them a memorable success in the opener at Abu Dhabi.
England were just 25 runs shy of pulling off a victory that appeared unthinkable for the majority of a contest that was staid by the combination of an unresponsive wicket and searing hot conditions.
Adil Rashid's five-wicket haul on debut suddenly altered the course of the game after Alastair Cook's record-breaking innings - which left Bayliss in awe of his skipper - had given England the right to get anywhere near a winning position.
While the poor light ended all of that, leaving eight valuable overs unused, England were able to board their team coach for the trip north to Dubai today confident they could yet inflict Pakistan's first-ever Test series defeat in the United Arab Emirates.
It's a sign for the boys that they are not only able to compete but that they are, with a little bit more luck or time, able to win, Bayliss said.
They are able to play some good cricket on these slow, turning wickets.At the end of the day it was unfortunate that we couldn't get up (and win).
I thought the team performed very well throughout the five days. If you look at the game - at lunch time on the second day, if you were going to guess which team was going to have a good chance of winning it, it may not have been England.
The boys showed a lot of character. If you stay in the game, keep yourself in the game, you're a chance of winning.
Cook spent almost 14 hours at the crease - the most ever by an England batsman - willing himself to an innings that few will forget and which forms the bedrock of increased English belief.
Certainly, Bayliss was struck by the sheer determination of his captain.
One of awe I think, he said, when asked to reflect on his feelings while watching his captain piece together a marathon 263.
It was just an unbelievable will to concentrate for that long - 13 or 14 hours, I can't really put it into words. It was an unbelievable effort.
For someone to bat like that at the top of the innings, I think he spent over four days in the field, his powers of concentration are superb.
Cook's unabridged reminder of his iron-will was hardly a surprise to the Australian, or his team-mates, and Bayliss said any suggestion the players might now hold their skipper in a higher regard because of it would be to ignore what the Essex man has already done in the past.
It's not the first time he's done it, he said.
I don't think it changes his standing in the team at all because I think the rest of the players have already got a very high opinion of their captain.
He's very well respected and I think it was another sign to the players that he is an extremely good player.
He's a hard worker and it's a sign to the rest of the players of how hard they have to work. If they can work just as hard as him then this team has got some good times in front of it.
To further boost belief in the touring party, Rashid's five wickets proved that he can have an important say on the series result.
Certainly. He did exactly what we thought he was more than capable of doing, Bayliss said.
First innings it was very difficult to bowl on that wicket as the four or five spinners in the match found in that first innings.
Spinners, and especially leg-spinners, really come into their own on the last day and he showed that quality that he has got.