The pride of Chris Silverwood: England's new head coach steps into role of a lifetime

SAM MORSHEAD AT LORD'S: You get the feeling that this is not just a job for the son of Pontefract, and falling into it is no combination of happenstance and convenience. This is the realisation of a dream. And that matters

Chris Silverwood was sitting in his living room when Ashley Giles’ name popped up on his phone. Immediately, of course, he understood the enormity of the call.

Since swapping bowling boots for coaching manuals, this was the moment Silverwood had been working towards.

It has been a long and winding road from his first backroom job in Mashonaland, Zimbabwe, via a return to Essex - steering the county out of Division Two of the County Championship and to a remarkable title - and then two years as Trevor Bayliss’s apprentice. But it had all been building to this.

Giles gave him the news. A decade’s work had paid off. He was to be England’s new head coach. 

“Wow,” Silverwood said down the phone. Nearby in the kitchen, his wife Victoria overheard and knew what was happening.

“I went very quiet for a bit. She was jumping around, over the moon.”

You get the feeling that this is not just a job for the son of Pontefract, and falling into it is no combination of happenstance and convenience. This is the realisation of a dream. And that matters.

“The emotion was immensely proud, very humbled to be given the opportunity and very grateful,” he said.

“I get to live the dream again in a coaching capacity.”

^{Chris Silverwood is England's new head coach}

That pride was on display on Thursday at Silverwood’s formal unveiling in the Lord’s museum’s film theatre; a burrow in the heart of cricket history. 

He arrived to talk to the press, blazered chest puffed out, the national crest sitting over his heart - a little nervous, perhaps, but brimming with enthusiasm and delight. 

“As a kid, I grew up wanting to pull the Lions on as a player. When I embarked on my coaching career, I got the same warm feeling – that I wanted to pull the Lions on again,” he said. 

“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”

Silverwood convinced Giles, chief executive Tom Harrison and head of coach development John Neal that he is the man to take England’s men on during a 90-minute interview last week, in which he was asked to explain how he would make the team the most respected in the world.

He won out over a handful of prominent names, including the internationally decorated Gary Kirsten, not because of a proficiency with Powerpoint but rather, Giles said, because of the pathway he saw for the side.

“The values and the beliefs that Chris holds are really in keeping with the culture we are trying to produce in this team and deliver,” said Giles.

“Everyone knows that that’s been an ongoing process in the last two or three years particularly. That continues and I’m absolutely sure Chris is the right man to take it forward.”

So what can we expect from a Silverwood regime? Well, for starters, regime hardly seems to be the right word.

The new head coach is friendly with the England squad but understands that boundaries need to be drawn for the future good of the side; he is certainly not going to be the sort of character to issue out dressing-downs in public, that’s for sure. Privately, it does not feel that enforcement will be part of his schtick, either.

“I understand how the system works and how the team works as well,” he said. “The continuity from me as a person to the players is key. The step-up obviously – there’s going to be a lot more responsibility. 

“From a relationship point of view, not a lot will change. I’ll have to step back a little bit, but I want them to know that I am available and accessible to them as well.”

The midnight curfew that England’s players have had to abide by since Jonny Bairstow greeted Cameron Bancroft with a “headbutt kind of thing” in Perth’s Avenue Bar nearly two years go remains, however.

Silverwood has stepped up from bowling coach

“I’ve not heard anybody complaining about it,” Silverwood said. 

“It probably puts an onus on how professional things have got to be. It’s not like the old days, things have moved on, and the level of professionalism expected is higher, as it should be.”

So not entirely a soft touch.

“He will certainly need different styles of management,” Giles added, pointing out that there will still be a need to focus on white-ball cricket, despite the ailments of the Test team and the successful conclusion of the four-year 50-over adventure. There’s a T20 World Cup next October, for instance, and it would be foolish to lose sight of that altogether.

Despite those comments, much of what Silverwood had to say on Thursday focused on red-ball cricket.

He seems pragmatic - a character trait with which Essex members will identify - and does not expect to see instant success.

“Some cogs will turn faster than others, that’s just the way it is. 

“We have to give people time to find their feet and be respectful of that, as long as they’re learning.”

That will be music to the ears of those players whose debuts will come in his charge; Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley, especially, may find themselves given more tether than many of their top-order predecessors. Joe Denly’s three half-centuries towards the end of the Ashes series, which won him what seemed at the time like a stay of execution, have now tripled in value.

“I’m quite a relaxed, chilled-out man, so not a lot will change,” Silverwood said. “One thing for me is making sure I’m consistent in front of the players, so they know what they’re getting from me.

“It is about taking pressure off the players. If I can do that, fantastic, because they have enough to worry about.

“They’re the ones who have to perform, they’re the ones in the spotlight so if I can do anything to strip that away, great. They know I’ll be the same bloke turning up every day, and I’ve got their backs.”

Have we not heard this before, you might ask. But before lodging an Amazon order for Yucca plants and scented candles, it would be prudent to note that there will certainly be some fundamental differences between Silverwood and the man whose whale noise CD he has inherited. 

Ashley Giles at Thursday's press conference 

For a start, the new head coach knows county cricket and both and Giles see that as vitally important.

Silverwood’s time as a player in the county system, with Yorkshire and Essex, and his years in the coaching ranks at Chelmsford have built him a reputation and contacts book which will surely be two major pluses as England look to develop a side capable of competing.

Having two county champions in positions of relative power can only benefit the Championship’s cause for more prominence in the summer schedule, too.

Ultimately, Silverwood will be judged on results - particularly in the Test arena, where England have been woefully inconsistent in recent years.

“We’re going to have to look at batting for long periods of time and then continuing to build our bowling attack while we can be successful and consistent in winning away from home as well.

“(England need) a batting group that can bat for a long period of times, stack runs up and put pressure on. Yes, it sounds a little bit old-fashioned, but I think we have to start recognizing that we actually need to have a look at that and make sure that we’ve got the right people in the right places to achieve that as well.”

Silverwood’s reign begins in New Zealand next month, where he will be assisted by Graham Thorpe, Paul Collingwood and a new bowling coach - likely an interim prior to a permanent appointment ahead of the trip to South Africa in December.

There won’t be a prouder man on the plane.

“I never really saw myself as a frontrunner, but I just wanted to make sure that when it came to decision time, I put myself out there as the best candidate.”

Job one, done. Job two is ever so slightly bigger.