"I can't fault them": Chris Silverwood praises England's effort on frustrating day

The tourists claimed just two wickets in the day as New Zealand, led by BJ Watling's unbeaten century, engineered a 41-run lead at the close of play with four wickets in hand

England coach Chris Silverwood has defended his team’s effort and tactics after watching his side toil for much of day three at Bay Oval.

The tourists claimed just two wickets in the day as New Zealand, led by BJ Watling’s unbeaten century, engineered a 41-run lead at the close of play with four wickets in hand.

England will surely be concerned that their strike bowlers struggled to find a breakthrough, with Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad and Sam Curran all going wicketless.

Silverwood, however, has defended his team’s endeavour on what was a frustrating day.

“I don’t think we can fault the effort of the bowlers or anybody that has been on the park,” he told Sky Sports.

“They have tried hard all day and implemented their plans. What I’ve been impressed with is we gave those plans time to work and we made it very difficult for the New Zealand guys to score. So from an effort point of view I can’t fault them."

Questioned over whether Joe Root’s men looked downbeat in the field, the former Essex coach dismissed the suggestion that the team’s body language was dispirited.

“What we did see is a lot of effort, a good attitude towards everything we do, implemented our plans and stuck to them. I didn’t see it as being flat for the dressing room to be honest.”

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At the start of the day, it was Sam Curran, not Jofra Archer, who was handed the task of opening the bowling alongside Stuart Broad. While the shock and awe of the Sussex man might have been the choice for many, Silverwood explained why the Surrey allrounder got the nod.

“We wanted Sam to try and swing the new ball and give him the best opportunity to do that. We want to give him the best chance of swinging it because that’s his big weapon.

“We created chances today but it just wasn’t to be."

Silverwood went on to acknowledge that Archer is still finding his feet in Test cricket. Having burst onto the scene for England, the hype and expectation around the player is high but his national coach says it is a learning process for the player and team alike.

“He’s still very young in his Test career," said Silverwood. "At the same time, Jofra’s learning about himself and the game of Test cricket and equally Joe is learning to captain him as well.

"From a holistic point of view we’re growing together, really. It’s a learning curve for us. How do we take 20 wickets abroad? This is part of the process and we’re building from it.

"Jofra creates problems. He was unlucky not to get an lbw, there was a faint tickle on that one. He’s learning ways to operate when he’s out there and the one thing we know he has is a ferocious bouncer."

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