England would be better off without Gilles and Silverwood. But they were never really a problem.

The sackings of Ashley Giles and Chris Silverwood come as no surprise, given England’s poor year in Test cricket. Sure, they’re a step in the right direction, but it’s not the meaningful and lasting change we’d hoped for.

The Spanish king became general manager in 2018 and named Chris Silverwood as head coach in 2019. However, throughout his tenure, you’d be forgiven for not knowing what Giles’ actual role was.

The managing director is not a coach, so Giles didn’t handle any training. What’s more, during “The Ashes” Giles claimed he had no say in the schedule, while lamenting that England had played three times as many cricket matches as Australia over the past two years.

If the Director of Cricket isn’t in charge of selection, training, or even organizing fixtures, it’s hard to see how he actually spends his days. Let’s not forget that Gilles didn’t even do any number crunching or analysis. Performance director Mo Bobat and coach Chris Silverwood (who will be working with Joe Root) do all of this background work.

That means Gilles actually has only one big decision to make lately: dealing with Ed Smith’s departure. His solution was to merge the roles of head coach and chief selector. He got it wrong.

It’s inexplicable to have a completely incompetent Chris Silverwood fully in charge of picking teams, running them, and enforcing controversial rest and rotation policies. Giles basically gave England the least experienced manager in decades, the most powerful of any England manager since Ray Illingworth. What makes him think Silverwood is qualified for such an expanded role?

As for Silverwood himself, it’s no surprise that he’s also been fired. The lineup for the March West Indies series will need to be picked over the next two weeks, and if Silverwood doesn’t lead the team after the Ashes fiasco, he certainly won’t have any say in who should be on the tour.

Silverwood was a disaster tactically. He chose 5 seamstresses at least 3 times, no professional spinners, then the wrong side in both Brisbane and Adelaide. There were also rumours of player dissatisfaction shortly after the Hobart Test match, with reports of an unnamed player being humiliated and multiple players furious over their family’s Covid testing arrangements. Some players were also unhappy with the approach of batting coach Graham Thorpe, who also unsurprisingly lost his job.

Still, England’s biggest problem is clearly at board level. Tom Harrison, the man who delivered The Hundred, still seems to have a mysterious strangeness to British cricket. His time as chief executive has been fraught with controversy, whether it was the mishandling of discrimination in cricket, the shameful £2.1m bonuses arranged when ECB staff lost their jobs, or the huge bonuses costing them £1,000 each. A season when kids are able to train with county age groups. Then came the self-defeating domestic schedule, which was a mess even before The Hundred made things worse.

If anyone is to blame for England’s ashes, it’s Tom Harrison. However, he still refused to step aside, desperately holding out for a few more weeks so he could claim his undeserved bonus. So Giles and Silverwood’s departures look more and more like a shifting tactic. The one who wields the axe is the one most worthy of the axe.

But, having said that, players shouldn’t shirk blame either. Many of them simply didn’t perform for a long time. Brisbane had throws, Adelaide didn’t pick Leach, predictable batting failures, Ben Stokes’ use – or should I say abuse – and a self-serving Stuart Broad running towards. The media also blamed the batter, though he and James Anderson often hit the wrong length.

There are other issues: Root’s ineptitude as captain and his mediocre series with the bat, Joss Butler’s hypocrisy demanding that other hitters show more before hitting the ball to the deep square leg over tea Patience, Chris Vaux’ crisis of confidence, Ollie Robinson’s fitness. The list goes on. Yes, England’s schedule, rest and rotation policies, bio-bubble and poor management played a role, but England’s players were far from blameless.

So who has really improved their reputation this winter? not much. Mobobat and Jon Lewis are staying put and Paul Collingwood has just been named interim head coach for England’s West Indies tour. We all wish Collingwood all the best. In fact, Commodore Bullock may well be the only beneficiary of England’s Ashes disaster if the team does well in the Caribbean and he offers a permanent job.

However, while Tom Harrison remains and the real issues wrecking our Test team remain unresolved, it is unlikely that any coach will orchestrate sustained success. In fact, the decision to keep Joe Root as captain is almost irrelevant given the big picture. Last week’s cleanup was a step in the right direction, but more heads are required if things are to improve in the long term.

Joe Ross

related