Adelaide, Dec 7 (AFP) England coach Trevor Bayliss sayshis team left "a few scars" on Australia in the Adelaide Test,suggesting the home side's second innings batting performancewill have some players feeling "nervous".
The fighting talk came after England slumped to acrushing 120-run defeat in the second Ashes Test at Adelaide,leaving the tourists trailing 2-0 and on the verge of losingthe five-Test series.
Despite succumbing again, Bayliss was upbeat about hisbowlers skittling Australia for 138 in the second innings,leaving England with a chance of chasing down a record 354-runvictory target.
"We have got a few scars there with the Australian team,"he told the BBC.
"There will be a few who have missed out and a few whowill be nervous.
"They've got four good bowlers and we've shown we cancompete with them for a period of time. We've just got to doit for longer."Captain Joe Root was also positive after the game, sayingEngland were "still massively" in the Ashes series.
This is despite England not beating Australia at Perth'sWACA Ground since 1978, where the third Test starts next week.
"We've shown throughout the two Tests in periods we canout-perform Australia, but just not over five days," saidRoot, who scored 67 in the second innings run chase but failedto stay at the crease long enough to give his side a realisticshot at winning.
"If we can perform to our ability for longer periods oftime we'll win games. The belief in dressing room isdefinitely there."Bayliss said the team played well in final days of theAdelaide day-night Test, but they needed to make more than 220runs in an innings to stand a chance in Perth.
"If we do that well we can put more pressure on Australiathan we did on this match," he said.
Australia head into the third Test with allrounder MitchMarsh recalled to the squad, with the home side conscious ofprotecting star fast bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewoodand Pat Cummins with the series still alive and three Testsremaining.
Marsh, brother of Adelaide Test centurion Shaun Marsh,last played a Test on Australia's tour of India in March andrequired a full shoulder reconstruction after an injury in theBangalore Test.
But he is confident he can contribute if selected, withmiddle-order batsman Peter Handscomb likely to be dropped ifAustralia opt for Marsh.
"As an allrounder in the Australian team with our attackI'm obviously not going to be bowling 30 to 40 overs a game,"he said.
"But I've worked hard over the last eight months to getmy body into a position where I'm now playing again as anallrounder so that's really exciting." (AFP)ATK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.