Australian Trevor Bayliss will end his four-year reign as England coach in a week and admits his successor will take over a Test team with plenty of room for improvement.
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Bayliss' place in the history books is already assured as the man who oversaw the country's first World Cup success earlier this summer, but the dream of signing off with an Ashes victory will not be realised.
Defeat at Old Trafford in the fourth Test means his compatriots will be lifting the urn regardless of what transpires at the Oval later this week.
The world-beating overhaul of England's limited-overs side will go down as Bayliss' crowning achievement but there are serious structural questions that remain unanswered in the red-ball format.
"I'm a hard marker, so I'll say five," the fomer NSW and Sydney Sixers mentor said, asked to mark himself out of 10.
"Our Test cricket hasn't gone as well as we would have liked. I'd say it's still a work in progress. When you compare the two, the white-ball team had the biggest improvements.
"Trying to find the depth in our Test ranks, as we have in our one-day ranks, will be a challenge going forward.
"It's a question that English cricket will have to address and hopefully everyone works together on that and not just throw barbs at one another."
Bayliss has been a low-key figure since his arrival in 2015, preferring to empower players and captains rather than act as a frontman for the team.
It is fitting, then, that he will not use his imminent departure to engineer one last push in a draining summer.
"I said to my wife before I came over, I'd love to win at least one of the trophies this year," he said.
"When we won the first one, the World Cup, I felt a bit greedy and I would have loved to have gone out on a high. But they owe themselves a performance, not me.
"They owe it to themselves to go out and play well and win this last one."
The 56-year-old admits future Ashes series will be full of mixed emotions.
"I'd have to be impartial," he said.
"Knowing the guys as I do so well, there'll always be a soft spot here. I'll always feel for those guys going forward because I know what they've been through, and how hard they work. I'm a cricket fan first and foremost."
Bayliss backed Joe Root to lead England on their next Ashes tour of Australia, insisting the captain has "not come under question from anyone making any decisions".
"He's under no pressure at all," Bayliss said.
Australian Associated Press
