Paul Collingwood to stand in as England head coach for upcoming T20Is against West Indies

Former all-rounder Paul Collingwood is set to stand in for head coach Chris Silverwood during England’s upcoming T20I series against the West Indies. The series consists of five matches to be played from Saturday, January 22 to Sunday, January 30 at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown in Barbados.

Collingwood travelled with the Brits for the T20 World Cup as one of their assistant coaches. The veteran then went with the team for the Ashes before flying back to the United Kingdom. Collingwood has taken time out for his family in Christmas before going to the Caribbean Islands. Silverwood has taken occasional breaks over the last one and half years in order to manage his workload. Back in 2020, Collingwood stood in for Silverwood during England’s home series against Ireland. Later that year, Graham Thorpe took charge during the T20I series against Pakistan.

Silverwood is currently serving as the head coach of the Three Lions in the five-match Test series against Australia that the hosts are leading 2-0. In the meantime, England are expected to name the squad for the West Indies tour next week. The squad for the same may not include players from the Ashes squad. After the T20I series, England will return to the West Indies for three Tests, starting Tuesday, March 8. Antigua, Barbados and Grenada will host the three red-ball matches.

Michael Atherton criticises Chris Silverwood

In the meantime, Silverwood has earned quite a bit of backlash amidst England’s shoddy outing in the ongoing Ashes. England have lost the Brisbane and Adelaide Tests by handsome margins and are staring down the barrel. Their next Test starts on December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Atherton was clear cut in saying that Silverwood hasn’t been able to do his job with precision.

“As the head coach and main selector, he has to shoulder along with Joe Root. There have been a rash of poor decisions so far – selection, mainly – for which he now has the final call. For the past 12 months, lots of selections have been suspect; the move to invest responsibility for selection with the head coach was always a bad one,” Atherton was quoted as saying to The Times.