Take a leaf out of Joe Root’s book on the sweep, says coach Silverwood

Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood said that the Lankan batsmen should take a leaf out of Joe Root’s book on the sweep shot which the former England captain put to good effect during their last tour here in January 2021.

“Joe Root gave us an exhibition on how to execute the sweep. That was one of the best seasons of his career. We’ve already chatted about that in the dressing room. We are not having the confidence at the moment,” said Silverwood after Sri Lanka’s 10-wicket defeat by Australia at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Silverwood was England’s head coach when Root put the Sri Lankan spinners to the sword with a double century (228) and 186 in the two Tests played at Galle which England won to take the series 2-0.

“We saw the Aussies use the sweep well. Joe Root did it well. We need to do it on turning wickets,” said Silverwood analysing Sri Lanka’s batting collapse. “There are other things that we need to do like getting to the ball and using the feet well. I am not going to discourage it. I am going to encourage it.”

Sri Lanka batsmen were found wanting on the sweep and reverse sweep shots against consistently accurate bowling by the Australian spinners that led to their downfall.

“I enjoyed their intent. They would have got out if they tried to block. I am happy they were trying to play shots but we need to get the execution right. There are areas that we need to work at. I will be encouraging positive intent and our need to get better,” said Silverwood.

“Against good teams when the ball is turning, they are going to put pressure on you. If they find a chink in the armour, they will go for it.” 

“From opposition you prepare well knowing what we need to do. We discussed what happened. Getting our head around how we tackle this is something we need to do. I am making my mind up really. Using depth of the crease, using our feet and sweeping, if we can do that right we can get things better. We have to score runs and that’s the name of the game.”

Silverwood said failure to put pressure on the opposition by the spinners was one of the main causes for the defeat. 

“We know it turns here. No surprise in the wicket. We knew what we were getting. Our spinners failed to put pressure on the opposition. We failed to push them,” said Silverwood. “We found their spinners put pressure on us and made life difficult. Batsmen had to score runs and put pressure and when they are bowling well it’s difficult. Their batsmen faired pretty well. We missed out on 50 runs with the bat and gave away 50 more. We need to learn from these things.” (ST)