Giles tips ‘remarkable’ Silverwood for top job
ENGLAND have identified Chris Silverwood as a leading candidate to become head coach when Trevor Bayliss leaves at the end of this World Cup and Ashes summer. Ashley Giles, the new team director, yesterday confirmed Sportsmail’s Monday story that revealed he wants one man to step into the Australian’s shoes, with assistants given extra responsibility for different formats. Silverwood, the current bowling coach, could be placed at least in interim charge for the tour of New Zealand in October that follows the clash against Australia. ‘We have candidates for the head coach job within our system and Chris is one of them,’ said Giles. ‘We see the same names being bandied about and some of them are very good coaches, but what Chris did at Essex before he joined us was remarkable. ‘They were a bit of a shambles and he came in and turned them around completely to win the championship. He’s got a very nice way about him. He’s a tough bloke with a fair amount of discipline but he communicates very well. Chris is one of the candidates.’ Giles confirmed Paul Collingwood will step up as one of Bayliss’s assistants when Paul Farbrace leaves for Warwickshire at the end of this tour, but he will share duties with Silverwood and white-ball batting coach Graham Thorpe rather than be the No 2. All three look certain to be in the new set-up when Giles makes his choices, but the future of red-ball batting coach Mark Ramprakash is less clear. What is certain is that Giles wants one supremo and would prefer him to be English. ‘We need the best bloke for the job but it would be nice at some point for us to have an English head coach,’ he said. The ECB, meanwhile, are at war with Surrey over their new Hundred format, with chief executive Tom Harrison refusing to confirm that the Oval will be one of the eight venues for the competition. Surrey were the only county to vote against the format and ECB chairman Colin Graves is lobbying support to take the competition away from the Oval, which had been named as a base for a Hundred team. One insider told Sportsmail: ‘Graves has called the counties saying Surrey should have their offer withdrawn.’