Chris Silverwood has expressed his desire to remain as England’s head coach and selector after another Ashes thrashing but admits he does not know yet if he will be leading the side on the tour of the Caribbean next month.
Silverwood is likely to be relieved of his job as coaching and selection supremo in the coming weeks after England collapsed meekly once more to lose the Ashes 4-0, which leaves them with one win in their last 14 Tests.
Ashley Giles, the managing director of cricket, is compiling a report which will be presented to the ECB Board and particularly Andrew Strauss, who will review it.
Joe Root has expressed his desire to remain as captain, and says he wants Silverwood alongside him, even though there have been rumblings of discontent from the dressing room on a desperate tour. Silverwood missed the Sydney Test, which England drew, when an outbreak of Covid-19 laid his family low.
Silverwood says that until he hears otherwise, he will continue planning for the three-Test tour of the Caribbean, which begins in Antigua on March 4 (with a warm-up match before).
“I accept the job I’m in comes with that level of criticism and the uncertainty as well,” he said. “Until I’m told differently I’ll start planning for the West Indies. I want to carry on but there are decisions above that will be made.
“My job is going to be under scrutiny. There will be a review when we get home and part and parcel of that will be my job.”
England are likely to have some new faces against the West Indies, with experienced opener Alex Lees, batter Josh Bohannon, spinner Jack Carson and Saqib Mahmood among the uncapped players who could tour. Ben Foakes will be back in the mix to keep wicket.
Silverwood, who was not given a pay rise when taking on extra responsibility for selection in the wake of Ed Smith’s sacking as national selector nine months ago, says he believes he can carry England forward. He echoed Root in saying that change is required in the county game if England are to improve.
“I think given some changes that I think we need within the county structures, I would love to help affect those changes, and I would like to put some of this right,” he said. “I think I can do that. I think I’m a good coach and I would love to be given that opportunity but it’s out of my hands at the moment.
“We’ve reflected about the players, but there will be certain aspects I’ve got to reflect on, because I’m not a finished article as a coach and I want to get better all the time.”
Silverwood said the pitiful performance with the bat at Bellerive Oval, which saw England collapse from 68 without loss to 124 all out chasing 271, was down to fatigue, not a lack of desire.
“I think what we saw was players that are tired,” he said. “Having lived what we’ve already spoken about there [bubble life etc], we saw the result of that. You know what, it was hard to watch. At times you were thinking, just get stuck in, let’s show that fight, but we didn’t have that.
“And there was no point saying we did, because we clearly didn’t. We’ve got to get to the bottom of why that is, and try to make a difference. That’s one of the things we’ve got to try to look at in the debrief.”
Root accepted yesterday that he and Silverwood are similar characters who, at times, perhaps needed to be harder.
“I’m not scared of showing my teeth,” said Silverwood. “Especially with the situation we’ve been living in, I try to work through things with them, rather than shout at them or growl at them. I have growled at them a couple of times on this trip.
“I’m not afraid to show my teeth, but you sometimes wonder in hindsight whether I should do it more. But then does it make it less effective?”
