Chris Silverwood has conceded for the first time he may look at managing Jofra Archer differently in Test cricket. The England coach said he could use Archer in shorter spells than has been the case but, if the situation demanded, he would still ask the paceman to bowl 40 overs in an innings.
“Things like [bowling 40 overs] we have to look at,” Silverwood said. “But sometimes, when needs must, you’ve got to do it. We managed Mark Wood through both the Test matches he’s played here and he’s bowled in short sharp spells. Would we look to do that now with Jof? Yes, we probably would.”
Asked if there was any aspect of Archer’s handling he would alter if he could go back to October – a stress fracture of the right elbow has ruled out Archer for at least three months – Silverwood said there was nothing he would change.
“Not really. It’s just a case of: his injury occurred. The first scan didn’t show us where it was. The second has. We can now put a plan in place and get him going for our summer.”
“Being a fast bowler is hard work. It is hard work. Ask Jimmy, ask Broad, ask any of them. Being a fast bowler is hard work. It’s just how it is.”
Some outside the England camp have suggested the degree of hard work – Archer bowled more overs than any other England player in 2019 – was simply too much for someone in his first season of international cricket. Silverwood remains unconvinced.
“We’ll never know, will we? We can’t turn the clock back, all we can do is look to the future and say, well, ‘How are we going to do it from now on?’”
Silverwood’s plan involves the exciting prospect of a closely managed group of Test fast bowlers, with an Australia-style rotation policy to keep them fresh.
“My dream, my ideal is to have three fast bowlers fit at any given point so we can rotate them, so they’re not always playing, and at any given point I’ve got one sat with his feet up full of energy waiting to go. So when he comes in he can go and hit the game hard, and just keep that going. That is the dream. We have to make it reality.”
As it stands, Archer, Wood and Olly Stone are already part of Silverwood’s planning for the next Ashes series in Australia.
“I would love to have those for the Ashes because we all know we get judged on the Ashes, so how can we give ourselves the best chance of succeeding? If I have three of them fit there, whether it is those three or not, then it would be a great advantage for us.
“I am excited to see Jofra and Wood in the same team. As an ex-fast bowler that would be exciting. But you have to get the right conditions to do that.”
Silverwood was speaking before England’s flight to East London for the start of the three-match T20 leg of their South Africa tour. It is a series England will be going all-out to win as part of their preparation for the T20 World Cup, a slight change of emphasis from the experimental lineups of the ODIs. Silverwood also spoke of his own commitment to carrying on the high-throttle style of England’s white-ball cricket in the Morgan-Bayliss era.
“We’re going to keep being aggressive. That’s how we’re going to break records and this team can break records. We’ve seen it time and time again. They play exciting cricket. I love watching it, they love playing it and it’s been a successful formula for them. It would be daft to change it.”
Wednesday’s opening T20 could have Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Wood returning to the team. England are also in the process of finalising their Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka.
Willey’s World Cup tears
David Willey admits watching his England team-mates win the World Cup last summer brought a tear to his eye after he was axed to make way for Archer. All-rounder Willey was named in the provisional squad only to be ditched on the eve of the competition, which ended with the newly-qualified Archer delivering the decisive super over as the hosts triumphed at Lord’s.
“I wasn’t under any illusions, obviously Archer was going to come in and someone was going to miss out,” Willey said. “He’s a brilliant cricketer. I remember shedding a tear during the final, I’d been a part of that group of lads for four years so it was hard to watch. But I was absolutely delighted for the lads I’d been with in that time and it was absolutely brilliant for English cricket.
“I messaged every single lad that was a part of that group in that final. I think most of them replied but there was a few lads that didn’t respond.” PA Media
