Will other countries follow Eng model?
Even as Indian Premier League (IPL) juggernaut continues unaffected by the rising proportions of the covid pandemic in India, the landscape of the game of cricket is changing. England, where the game was born saw a change in age old tradition when the position of a national selector was made redundant in a bloodless (almost corporatesqe) coup.
Ed Smith who was tasked with selecting England cricket teams for the the past three years found his position removed with immediate effect. Ashley Giles, the former England spinner and currently the managing director of men’s cricket in the country removed not just Smith but also the post of selector, handing over the charge of picking teams to the present head coach, Chris Silverwood.
Breaking a tradition is not easy especially in a country like England which swears by it. To do away with legacy that was 120 years old, almost as old as the game, as part of a restructuring process, takes some courage and that is what Giles did. The man who is best known in India for bowling the famous ‘leg-stump line’ which frustrated Sachin Tendulkar in 2001, has now delivered a different kind of ball to further the cause of English cricket.
The yoke held by the lanky Smith, who played 3 Test matches for England, will solely be on the shoulders of Silverwood who will be assisted by the two England captains, Joe Root and Eoin Morgan who will together decide the final playing eleven. Smith, under whose tenure the country won the International Cricket Council (ICC) 50-over World Cup for the first time in 2019 and headed the One day ICC rankings, must be left wondering if there was any other benchmark that he needed to reach.
Going ahead, the immediate goal for Silverwood would be to clasp their hands on the ICC Twenty20 World Cup which will commence (if all goes the way it has been so far) in India later this year. The other big goalpost in his sight will be the getting back the little urn called the Ashes which take place in Australia, end November. Considering that he will be relying on former England Test player James Taylor, who now becomes ‘head scout’ instead of selector, to look for local talent and a performance director, Silverwood his task has cut out going ahead.
With England’s new thrust of redoing the old norm and banishing the ‘selector’ from its system, cricket’s landscape has further altered. We may well see the formal introduction (by the ICC) of Twenty10 (T10) to accommodate the game in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics which may further disturb a packed International cricket schedule (to accommodate the T10 format).
Meanwhile, Silverwood’s promotion has now made the coach more powerful, like in football. It has also thrown open a few questions: Does cricket need selectors who are not on the playing field unlike the coach? England has taken the lead. Will other countries follow?