Chris Silverwood and Joe Root to decide whether to complain to ICC over Third Test pitch

BCCI
Will Macpherson26 February 2021

England coach Chris Silverwood says he and captain Joe Root will discuss whether to complain to the ICC over the Ahmedabad pitch that saw his team drubbed inside two days by India – and admits he is praying for a flatter surface in Thursday’s final Test.

Silverwood echoed Root’s comments that spectators had been short-changed by a match that lasted little over five sessions, and said the England captain’s part-time off-spin should not be a source of five wickets for eight runs in a Test match.

Like Root, he did accept, however, that England had been thoroughly outplayed and could not blame the pitch for the defeat.

At the end of the first of the match’s two days, Silverwood and Root visited match referee Javagal Srinath about third umpiring protocols and the coach said they will discuss whether to follow up with him regarding the pitch. Srinath charged no players with poor behaviour in the match despite some animated exchanges between England the onfield umpires.

“We will be talking about certain things behind the scenes,” Silverwood said. “At the same time, we are disappointed that we are sat here when there should be three days of cricket left. I am sure a few spectators are as well. 

“We’ve spoken to [match referee] Javagal Srinath but not about the pitch. Joe and I have to have a sit down, have a conversation and see where we go with it. 

“We do have to get better on these pitches and we do have to accept there’s places where we could have improved, look at the first innings we had an opportunity there to score more runs, next time we’ll pounce on that opportunity.”

Silverwood admitted he would like the pitch for the Fourth Test to be rather simpler to bat on. 

Pankaj Nangia / Sportzpics for BCCI

“I would like it to be obviously,” he said. “That would suit our game plan and our players better, give them more opportunity for them to go out and score runs, so our top class players, which we do have, can show off their skills.  So yeah, I would like it to be flatter but we will see in the coming days what the wicket looks like and we will take it from there.”

Silverwood said that off-spinner Dom Bess is in contention for the final Test having been left out for Moeen Ali, then an extra seamer, on two turning pitches.

“He’s in contention,” he said. “He was left out and Mo played in the second Test and was given a break. 

“But equally, he was left out of this one because of potential movement we could have got out of the pink ball, in training, we thought how do we make best use of this pink ball and who we have available. We’ve got two bowlers in the top 10 and if they can move the ball around, they’re a handful. All the evidence was that it moved in training, in the middle and the nets. 

“From Bessy’s point of view I wouldn’t read too much into that. He’s played an important part in helping us win games in the past and I’m sure he will do again in the future.

“He’s been great around the group. We’ve got a good group here who do get around each other and help each other out, keep each other going. You have to do that in bubble life, which is what we’re living in at the moment. We’re lucky we’ve got that sort of environment and he’s been great around the group.”

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