Silverwood and Nawaz on mission to rebuild Sri Lanka cricket

Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood

Sri Lanka assistant coach Naveed Nawaz

One of the advantages that Sri Lanka Cricket’s newly appointed head coach Chris Silverwood has over his predecessors is that he has first-hand information of the pluses and minuses of the national team which he has undertaken to coach.

Silverwood was the coach of the England team led by Joe Root that routed Sri Lanka 2-0 in the two Test matches played at Galle in January 2021. Along with the captain and the rest of the coaching staff, Silverwood plotted Sri Lanka’s downfall.

Now 16 months down the line Silverwood finds himself the coach of the very team he conspired to defeat and when questioned about how he can turn that information he had to Sri Lanka’s advantage he replied: “My notes I brought with me while I was the coach of England. We’ll be looking at patience in the batting and instil confidence into the boys so that they can build a good total in the first innings and give us something to bowl at.”

Giving reasons for undertaking the job of head coach of a team that is struggling to find its past form, Silverwood said: “What made me take up this job was having seen the talent from an opposition point of view. What you have in this team is the excitement in the red ball format and white ball. To climb up the rankings, to get back to what Sri Lanka once was and to rebuild the team. 

“I want the boys to express themselves, I don’t want them to leave it to somebody else. To me one of the challenges was the communication that I can get what I want across to the boys properly. All in all, what we’ve got here is very exciting, so I took the job to try and make a difference. After the Ashes I wanted a break and when the opportunity came along it was too good to miss. Now I am fresh after the break.”

Silverwood said the long-term goal is to see Sri Lanka rise up the rankings and compete with the best teams in the world that includes the two World Cups coming up and, the short-term goal is to start with the philosophy of how you want to play.

The first task of Silverwood and his assistant coach Naveed Nawaz, who held their inaugural media conference at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday is to win the two-Test series in Bangladesh starting on 15 May. 

The two Tests are at Chattogram (Chittagong) and Mirpur (Dhaka) and Nawaz with the first-class experience of having coached the Bangladesh Under19 side since 2018 before undertaking the Sri Lankan assignment gave an insight to the pitches the team will come up against during the tour.     

“Our first Test match is in Chittagong and if you take the wicket, the majority of Test matches played on that surface has gone well into the fifth day. Apart from the first day when there is some life in it for the bowlers, for the rest of the days the wicket becomes flat. The challenge for both teams is the batting. They have experienced batsmen in red ball cricket and the battle will be in the batting,” said the former Sri Lanka Test and ODI cricketer Nawaz. 

“At Mirpur where the second Test is to be played the wicket is on the slow side. There is a chance of the ball turning but still for all it is also heavily in favour of the batsmen. There is not enough bounce and if there is turn, it is slow.”

Nawaz, who resides in Melbourne with his family, said that he moved out in 2016 after working with Sri Lanka Cricket for eight years. While in Australia he got the opportunity to coach Bangladesh U19 which went on to win the World Cup in 2020.

“My fervent hope was to one day comeback and coach Sri Lanka. I have been working with these boys for the past few weeks and when I was a way, I have been watching them, so when I came back, I had at the back of my mind what was lacking, what needs to be installed in them, and what sort of disciplines they need to get to their skills to a higher level. 

My role would be to act partly as a mentor, as a friend and also at the same time drilling into them the tactical changes they need to do for the betterment of their individual game,” said Nawaz who will also be the batting coach of the team.

“It’s a great opportunity to work with somebody like Chris who has a wealth of experience. Obviously, I applied for the head coach’s role but I still take the assistant coach’s role as an opportunity. As long as both of us are on the same wavelength, and to bring back Sri Lanka cricket its lost glory is all that matters.” – (ST)