Players want Root to stay and Silverwood to go

The managing director of English cricket is to fly Australia ahead of the SCG Test to conduct an inquiry into the disastrous tour.

England captain Joe Root and coach Chris Silverwood Picture: AFP

Chris Silverwood is expected to pay the price for England’s humiliating Ashes defeat by losing his job as head coach at the end of the series.

The disastrous tour took another turn for the worse on Wednesday night when Silverwood was forced into isolation after a family member in the England camp tested positive for Covid-19.

An inquest into a capitulation played out over 11 days and one session in Australia, which left England 3-0 down in the five-match series, will gather pace.

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Ashley Giles, the managing director of England men’s cricket, will fly to Sydney before the start of the fourth Test on Tuesday to canvass opinion among the players and coaches. Tom Harrison, chief executive of the ECB, is already in Australia and will join Giles in conducting the inquiry.

Silverwood, 46, the former Yorkshire and England seamer, is admired by the players on a personal level but they think that a new head coach is needed.

A full review of the coaching and selection structures is in the offing. The idea of having different head coaches for red and white-ball cricket may be considered, along with the return of a head selector and selection panel. Giles was responsible for sacking Ed Smith, the national selector, this year and entrusting Silverwood with selection.

Harrison and Giles are expected to find unanimous support within the dressing room, as well as among the coaching staff, for Joe Root to remain as captain despite his side having lost a record nine Tests in 2021.

Should Silverwood lose his job after the fifth and final Test in Hobart next month, Gary Kirsten, the former India and South Africa coach, would be the favourite to replace him.

The 54-year-old former South Africa opener was a frontrunner for the England head coach job after Trevor Baylis left in 2019 but was snubbed at the last minute in favour of Silverwood. Kirsten is employed by the ECB as the head coach of Welsh Fire, the Hundred franchise, and would be able to start at short notice.

The ECB is expected to open talks with the former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, the Sri Lanka consultant coach Mahela Jayawardene and Graham Ford, the former Sri Lanka coach.

Thorpe is one of the few viable English candidates. Eoin Morgan, the England white-ball captain, who has intimated he may retire from playing next year, is a left-field option.