Sacked Silverwood could have the last laugh on England
IT IS a story with the potential for a very unhappy ending for England. The coach they sacked after yet another Ashes debacle returns with his new team to end their World Cup dream.
That is the nightmare scenario for England when they come up against Chris Silverwood and Sri Lanka here at the SCG tomorrow in the final group match of this T20 World Cup. Not that Silverwood would add dramatic effect by seeing this clash of his new and old sides as the chance for revenge. There will be no hitting back at England ahead of the game nor any gloating afterwards should Sri Lanka pull off an upset that breaks his countrymen’s hearts.
He was dealt a very difficult hand with England, serving all but the first four months of his reign in the shadow of the pandemic and wrestling with all the difficulties created by living for weeks in biosecure bubbles. And Silverwood would be permitted a wry smile now England are replacing him with three people, new MD Rob Key abandoning Silverwood’s ‘supremo’ role and appointing different red-ball and whiteball coaches and planning to bring back a national selector. The split has worked out well for both sides. England launched the Bazball revolution under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum that has transformed the Test team and are back on the right track in white-ball cricket. And the coach they left behind is rebuilding his career impressively. Silverwood, mentally exhausted after two demanding years, turned down a couple of approaches before being tempted by Sri Lanka. Then he did what he couldn’t do with England by overseeing a Test win against Australia that gave Sri Lanka a share of their series in July, before leading his side to a notable Asia Cup success. The man known throughout the game as ‘Spoons’ has kept in touch with many of his old charges and remains popular within the England group, as Chris Woakes confirmed. ‘The majority of the team, if not everyone, have a good relationship with Spoons,’ said Woakes yesterday. ‘I still class him as a friend and it will be good to come up against him.’ Now all that remains to be seen is whether Silverwood can continue his journey of vindication and have the final word on England, metaphorically at least.