England were beaten 4-0 by Australia in this winter's Ashes series; ECB announced changes to the coaching staff ahead for their three-match Test series against West Indies next month
Friday 4 February 2022 06:24, UK
Chris Silverwood has left his role as England head coach in the wake of their Ashes defeat in Australia.
Silverwood's departure comes the day after Ashley Giles was sacked as managing director of men's cricket in the wake of a dismal 4-0 Ashes defeat against the Australians in which England lost the series after just 12 days of cricket.
The former England fast bowler's departure comes with the team preparing for a three-Test series against the West Indies and interim coaching arrangements for that tour will be announced in due course.
"During his time in the role Chris has given absolutely everything to make a success of it," ECB chief executive officer Tom Harrison said. "He is a man of great integrity, who players and staff alike have enjoyed working with.
"Under Chris, England's white ball teams have been ranked first and second in the world while he also led the Test team to a number of series wins including away in South Africa and Sri Lanka.
"He has led the England Men's team with great resilience and empathy through an incredibly challenging period for English cricket, and he deserves our sincere thanks and gratitude.
"In the coming days Andrew Strauss will appoint a caretaker coach for the tour of the West Indies and will then consider the appropriate coaching structures to help England move forwards."
During his time in the role Chris has given absolutely everything to make a success of it. He is a man of great integrity, who players and staff alike have enjoyed working with.
"It's been an absolute honour to be England head coach, and I'm extremely proud to have worked alongside our players and staff," Silverwood said. "I want to thank them all for the hard work and commitment they have given during my time in the role and I wish them all the very best moving forward.
"The last two years have been very demanding but I have really enjoyed my time with the team and working with Rooty and Morgs, and I am very proud of this group considering the challenges. I leave with fond memories and I am now looking forward to spending some quality time at home with my family and embracing the next chapter."
Silverwood - who succeeded Trevor Bayliss as head coach in October 2019 after stepping up from the role of bowling coach - lost his first Test series in charge, in New Zealand, but then presided over four series victories in a row, against South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
England then won the first Test in India in February 2021, beating Virat Kohli's side by 227 runs in Chennai, but then crashed to three successive defeats and a 4-1 series loss amid rest and rotation and constant batting failures.
The home summer featured a 1-0 series defeat to New Zealand and England were 2-1 down to India after four Tests before the fifth and final game was postponed due to Covid-19.
The team's poor run of form continued in Australia, with England failing to pass 300 even once across 10 innings - six times they were dismissed for below 200, while they recorded a series low of 68 in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne.
The tour was also blighted by bizarre selection decisions, including the omissions of Stuart Broad and James Anderson on a green pitch in the series opener at Brisbane and the absence of Mark Wood, the tourists' fastest bowler, on a flat Adelaide surface in the second Test.
Giles and Silverwood submitted a report on England's Ashes failures to former captain Sir Andrew Strauss, chair of the ECB cricket committee, who then presented his recommendations to the board.
It's been an absolute honour to be England head coach, and I'm extremely proud to have worked alongside our players and staff.
Strauss has now taken over from Giles on an interim basis and will make plans for the three-Test tour of West Indies in March, during which England will be hoping to arrest an alarming red-ball slump.
The Ashes humiliation means England have now lost 10 of their previous 14 Tests, winning just one, with the side recording a record nine defeats in a calendar year in 2021.
Giles' decision last April to axe Ed Smith as national selector and make Silverwood England's supremo has been met with criticism and the national team have won one of the 11 Tests played since Smith's departure.
Giles' permanent successor must make the call on whether to retain that structure and whether to implement split coaches for red and white-ball cricket.
England deployed twin coaches between 2012 and 2014, with Giles in charge of the white-ball side and Andy Flower leading the Test team, but have since had one man in charge of both formats.
England have now gone 11 years since winning a Test in Australia, with their previous success down under coming in January 2011 when they win in Sydney under the captaincy of Strauss.
England's series in the West Indies begins in Antigua on March 8, followed by Tests in Barbados (March 16) and Grenada (March 24), before home assignments against New Zealand and South Africa.
Former England batsman and batting coach Mark Ramprakash had sympathy for Silverwood, particularly given the challenges faced by playing during the Covid-19 pandemic, but was left scratching his head at some of the tactical and selection decisions taken during his time in charge.
"There were mitigating circumstances, absolutely, so we should remember that, but equally some of the tactical decisions and selection decisions which were responsibilities given to him by Ashley Giles...those decisions just did not add up," Ramprakash told Sky Sports News.
"It wasn't just one or two people in the cricket world thinking they didn't quite understand it, it was virtually every person I spoke to around the Ashes who could not believe what they were seeing in front of them.
"We should point out mitigating circumstances and the pandemic, and the rest and rotation policy which didn't go down that well and seemingly players were rested and rotated to the benefit of the one-day side, not the Test team.
"This is where I've got a lot of sympathy for [England Test captain] Joe Root, who has been carrying the team on his back and has been outstanding in his own individual form, but he's been left in a position without his best side too often."
Sky Sports Cricket expert and former England captain Michael Atherton was unsurprised to see Silverwood's tenure come to an end after a tough year for the Test team, but believes whoever succeeds him should not have to face coaching across Test, One-Day International and Twenty20 formats plus have all responsibility for team selection.
"There was a high degree of expectation he was going to go after a bad Ashes series and a poor year for England's Test team," Atherton told Sky Sports News.
"I think there is an expectation they want Joe Root to continue as Test captain, but clearly after the year England have had and the Ashes series which has just been concluded, they couldn't go on with no change.
"Without talking about people, you would expect structures to change. I would find it amazing if one man is able to do everything which is loaded on Chris Silverwood's shoulders, which is coaching across three formats, with all responsibility for selection.
"No matter how capable an individual you are, that is an incredible workload and burden to shoulder and, I think, almost impossible."
Sky Sports Cricket expert and former England batsman Rob Key feels the burden of responsibility placed on Silverwood was too much and led to him paying the price for England's poor recent results in Test cricket.
"It was probably not through his own doing, he was just given an impossible task in what he did," Key told Sky Sports News.
"What sums it up, how wrong that decision was to put him in charge of everything...is that in this new era we talk about we will probably go for a split coaching set-up with one coach of Test cricket, one coach of white-ball cricket and we'll probably have some form of selection panel back.
"That's the complete opposite of what Chris Silverwood was asked to do and he got given more power than pretty much any coach in my time.
"What's cost him really is the fact England haven't won and their Test team is not performing to their potential."
Sky Sports News reporter James Cole explained how there was little chance Silverwood would remain in his role as head coach following Giles' departure, but cautioned there will be no quick fix for the England team.
"This was inevitable, particularly after Ashley Giles left on Wednesday," Cole told Sky Sports News. "Not only did he appoint Chris Silverwood, but he also gave him extra powers; powers of selection which in Australia, England didn't make good selection decisions.
"Ultimately, when you lose an Ashes series like that in Australia and have a record of one win in 14 Tests, the buck has to stop with the head coach and that's what happened.
"It's not just about clicking your fingers and changing the guys at the top, it doesn't just produce immediate results. But equally, given what has happened in the last year - yes there are mitigating circumstances with Covid - Ashley Giles' position was dodgy and when he left, Chris Silverwood's became untenable.
"England used to have red and white ball coaches - Ashley Giles was England's white ball coach not that long ago and he was always a big advocate of having a red and white ball coach. It almost feels like we're going around in circles, but change had to happen, didn't it?"
