Morgan is the man to be England T20 coach
In the five years since Carlos Brathwaite slotted Ben Stokes into the stands at Eden Gardens to win the last Twenty20 World Cup final, much has changed in the format. It has drifted so far from Test cricket that they are now almost entirely different sports. Only five of England’s 18-man World Cup party play Test cricket, and, of them, only Jos Buttler is a regular.
Very few can now make the crossover between formats, but we still expect coaches to do so. There have been more than 4,000 T20 matches since that 2016 final. Stars have emerged, tactics have changed, data analysis has become integral and the sport has even developed its own language. The cricket data analyst Cricviz published a piece tracking T20 trends with subheads such as “batting shields”, “match up management”, “entry points” and “front loading”. You will not have found many of those in use at the last World Cup.
What has not changed since 2016 is England’s coaching set-up. Then, it was Trevor Bayliss overseeing the team in all formats. Now, it is Chris Silverwood. When Bayliss left, he suggested England appoint split coaches. Ashley Giles, the director of cricket, ruled against it, perhaps because of personal experience. He was sacked as England’s white-ball coach after the 2014 World Twenty20.
Too often he was overruled by Andy Flower as Test cricket took prominence, but that was before England had a director of cricket to mediate if clashes arise. It would now be Giles’s job to manage that relationship. Yet because the formats have diverged so much, clashes are less likely.
This might be the first Twenty20 World Cup in five years, but by the end of 2030 another five will have taken place. There are also four Test championships to be contested. Silverwood is in charge of all selection, on top of coaching in all three formats. It is a monumental workload. While England are playing at the World Cup, the Test players – 13 of them – are at Loughborough netting ahead of their Ashes departure on Nov 4. Would it not make more sense for Silverwood to be with them, spending every moment working on the Ashes campaign?
England are lucky they have Eoin Morgan, just returned from the Indian Premier League and across every facet of the T20 game and its rapidly evolving tactics. But Morgan is coming to the end of his playing days. This could be his last tournament if his form continues.
If Morgan does stand down, there is an obvious role for him. He should be England’s first full-time T20 coach. Like the players, he should be allowed to go to the IPL full time and be made head coach of a Hundred franchise, as well as work in other T20 leagues when international commitments allow.
It would free Silverwood to concentrate on the Test team, who are in a mess.
Silverwood would be fresher for the draining, all-encompassing challenge of Test cricket, and it would ensure Morgan’s knowledge and astute leadership was not lost to English cricket. The 50-over team can still be under the control of the Test coach if necessary, but it would be a bold and imaginative move to appoint a T20 specialist supremo, a recognition of the developing uniqueness of the format. The T20 World Cup will boom over the next 10 years.
England could be at the front of that growth while still protecting their Test side.