England head coach Chris Silverwood has defended his team selection despite losing first two matches of the ongoing Ashes series in Australia.
England were defeated by 9 wickets in Brisbane, followed by 275-run loss in Adelaide and that has led to a sharp crirticism on team’s selection.
Silverwood, who is also England’s chief selector, said he will not change a thing when asked by the ‘BBC’ if he would pick the same teams.
“To be honest, I would,” he said.
“There is always going to be divided opinion. You pick a team and not everybody’s going to agree with you (but) I was happy with the skillset we had in the pink-ball Test, so I would pick the same team again.” The third Test begins in Melbourne on Boxing Day and ahead of the departure of the team, Silverwood on Tuesday reiterated his stance. “We picked the best attack for those conditions and you look at the attack we had out, there’s a lot of experience. I was happy with that attack this game and I was happy with that attack last game as well.” Under Silverwood, England have lost nine and won only one of the last 11 Tests and many former players, including ex captain Michael Artherton, believes he should take responsibility for the two losses.
“Am I the right man to help the players get better? Yes, I believe I am. We have had those honest chats and I believe I have the right coaching staff around me to make that happen as well,” Silverwood said.
“When you take a job like this you accept that (your job is on the line). It is what it is. Do I believe I’m the right man? Yes I do, or I wouldn’t have taken the job in the first place. You’re under pressure constantly, aren’t you? “We knew it was going to be difficult when we came out here. Obviously we wanted to win but that is always going to be difficult. We have to be realistic about what we have, but we have to learn.”
The third Test will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from December 26 and the visitors will try to make every ounce of their game turn when they step onto the field in the Boxing Day Test to save the series.
