Former English skipper, Michael Vaughan has come hard and questioned the lack of intervention by ‘all-powerful’ head coach Chris Silverwood in the first session of Day 5 of the Lord’s Test between India and England. Under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, the Indian team registered a historic 151-run over England in the second Test of the five-match series on Monday. At the start of Day 5, England was well on the track to win the game, but Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami’s 89-run partnership sealed the game for the visitors.
England battled hard, but owing to another top-order failure, they only managed to reach the score of 120 runs in the second innings, handing visitors a 1-0 lead in the five-match Test series.
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In a long statement on Facebook, Vaughan criticized Chris Silverwood. He wrote, “It is four months since the removal of Ed Smith made Silverwood the all-powerful head coach, with free rein over selection. And in that time England’s record in Tests reads: played four, drawn two, lost two – and those two draws would probably have been defeats had the weather not intervened. He [Silverwood] has spoken about the importance of first-innings runs and then bowling with discipline but that’s just common sense Test cricket which applies to every team on the planet.”
He further elaborated, “There has been no sense of what England are aiming for either tactically or in terms of their mentality: the performances have been a mishmash. Plenty has been written and said about how England lost the plot in attempting to bounce out Jasprit Bumrah, and Joe Root was undeniably let down by some of his senior players who should have intervened with him sooner, but I also wanted to see something from the coach.”
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Questioning English coach further, Michael Vaughan stated that Silverwood should”ve sent someone onto the pitch with drinks to change some tactics.
Michael Vaughan elaborated, “Why was Silverwood not sending someone out onto the pitch with a drink, asking Root what the hell was going on, and getting him to change tactics? He [Chris Silverwood] has to show that he is capable of changing England’s momentum in this series because at the moment it is only going one way and that is in the direction of Virat Kohli, who has his hosts hot under the collar, not thinking straight and making silly mistakes.”
He further explained, “If England goes 2-0 down, it is hard to envisage them salvaging anything from the series so the batters need to show more technical nous, and some serious courage, in Leeds. My fear, however, is that only a piece of individual brilliance – probably from Root – will dig them out of this hole.”
Virat Kohli-led Indian team on Sunday arrived at Headingley Stadium and they had immediately started practicing for the third Test against England. The third Test between the two teams is scheduled to be commencing on Wednesday.
