NEW England coach Chris Silverwood has the personal qualities to get the Test side back to winning ways – according to someone who’s known him longer than most.
Former Lancashire spinner Gary Keedy, who’s just finished a five-year stint in the Liverpool Gin Liverpool Competition, went to school with Silverwood in Garforth, near Leeds, and came up through Yorkshire’s age groups with him.
He described the 44-year-old’s appointment, following a successful spell at Essex and two years as England’s bowling coach, as a “strong statement”.
Keedy said: “After all the external appointments for the Hundred teams, it’s a good, strong message for English cricket that we’re investing in our own.
“Chris is a great guy, one of the nicest blokes you’ll ever meet.
“He’s got a very, very successful track record – so why not give him a shot."
With England hoping to focus on the Test side more, following two years of stellar white-ball displays that have seldom been matched in the longer format, Silverwood’s Essex pedigree – he won the County Championship with them in 2017 – stood him in good stead.
Keedy reckons the value of a coach at the top level is more in the dressing room than in the nets – and that’s where he thinks Silverwood comes into his own.
“When you get to that level, technical ability is obviously there to work on – but when you’re playing international cricket, you should have sorted that out,” he said.
“What he can offer from a non-technical side would probably be where his values are.
“He knows the red ball game inside out and he’s got lots of knowledge and commitment to the game – and he’s very approachable. He’ll be a good appointment.”
Keedy himself has called time on his Competition career after helping Southport & Birkdale survive by the skin of their teeth in the ECB Premier Division.
His numbers – both this year and last, when he helped S&B win the First Division, and for the previous three seasons at Formby – have been excellent.
But he says picking up scalps (59 this season, at less than 11 each) has never been the main goal.
He said: “What I tried to do for Southport was to help build a bit of a future and a bit of stability.
“It’s nice to do well and get five wickets here and there, but it wasn’t the main driver for me.
“I’m 45 in November – I’m asking can I maintain that? Can I maintain my fitness?
“I played professional cricket for 23 years and I’ve got a few aches and pains and a few niggles here and there.
“And if not now, do I wait until I have a bad season and only take 20 wickets?”
So Keedy is choosing to leave on a high – and he’s grateful to have had five years in what he describes as the highest standard league he’s known.
“The Liverpool Comp has the best wickets and the best cricketers – you turn up every week and you’ll play against a former Test player, or a county player,” he said.
“There’s a lot of players in the Comp who, given the opportunities I’d had when I was younger, would have gone on to be first class cricketers.”
