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Russell Domingo has reaffirmed his commitment as Bangladesh’s head coach in the Test and ODI formats after reports on Thursday morning said that he had resigned. Domingo and the BCB have both denied those claims, saying that Domingo’s contract remains intact till November next year.Domingo, who is currently in South Africa, said that he would get back to work in October with the Bangladesh A side that takes on Afghanistan A in the UAE, before joining the senior team ahead of their preparation for the India series at home in December.”This is to confirm that all the rumours and speculations that I have resigned from the Bangladesh Cricket Board are not true,” Domingo told ESPNcricinfo. “I am trying to get our cricket to where it needs to be in the one-day and Test format. I will be going to Abu Dhabi in October to work with the A side. I will then join the national team in December. As far as I am concerned, it is business as usual. I will continue the journey that I have started. My contract is till November 2023. I am fully committed to the Bangladesh Cricket Board for the next 15 months.”Earlier this week, the BCB replaced Domingo with S Sriram as the one in charge of the T20I side, although they stopped short of calling Sriram the head coach, using the term “technical consultant”. Domingo said at the time that he was happy with the arrangement as it gave him more time to prepare for the ODI and Test teams, as well as giving him time with his family back in South Africa.Domingo took up the Bangladesh job in September 2019. Since then, he has overseen the ODI side into the second position in the World Cup Super League, while winning a Test in New Zealand. His record in T20Is, however, came under scrutiny after Bangladesh’s underwhelming performance at the T20 World Cup last year. This year so far, the team has just two wins from seven completed T20Is.Bangladesh are currently in Dubai for the Asia Cup. After that, they will play a T20I tri-series in New Zealand that also involves Pakistan, before heading to Australia for the T20 World Cup in late October.

The ICC’s Afghanistan Working Group (AWG) has conveyed to the governing body’s board that the country’s government has reiterated its commitment to “fully respect and comply” with the ICC constitution, including agreeing “in principle” to support the development of women’s cricket.The focus was to ensure “diversity and inclusivity, and for the Afghanistan Cricket Board to operate independent from government interference,” an ICC statement following meetings in Melbourne over the weekend said.Related

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“The meeting was positive and respectful, and the [Afghanistan] government representative was clear in his support for the ICC constitution including in principle for women’s cricket in Afghanistan,” Imran Khwaja, the AWG chair, was quoted as saying. “There are obviously challenges for it to resume but we will continue to work with the ACB to take this forward. The Working Group will closely monitor the commitment undertaken by the Afghanistan government and will continue to report back to the ICC Board.”As things stand, Afghanistan is the only Full Member to have received that status without having an operational women’s team in place. Last year, the ACB had announced its first contracts for women in their quest to build a team, but those efforts were put on the back-burner following the Taliban’s takeover of the administrative affairs of the country in September 2021.At the time, ACB chief executive Hamid Shinwari admitted that the women’s game was “in peril”, even as then acting chairman Azizullah Fazli said women would be allowed to play as long as the players adhered to Islamic rules. Soon after, Afghanistan’s Test in Australia – their first in the country – was called off. Australian sports minister Richard Colbeck said at the time that Afghan athletes would “remain welcome in Australia, but not under the flag of the Taliban”.The men’s ODI World Cup will be a 14-team affair in 2027•Getty Images

Thailand, Nepal, Namibia among hosts for U19 World Cups
Sri Lanka will host the men’s Under-19 World Cup in 2024, while Zimbabwe and Namibia will stage the 2026 edition together. And, as part of the ICC’s attempts to spread the game, Malaysia and Thailand have been named joint hosts of the women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup in 2025, while Bangladesh and Nepal will jointly host the 2027 edition of the same tournament.The Under-19 World Cup for women is finally set to take off after a pandemic-enforced delay, with South Africa hosting the inaugural edition in January 2023.Men’s 50-over World Cup in 2027 will feature 14 teams
The ICC has also formulated a qualification pathway for the women’s 2024 T20 World Cup – the ten-team event will have eight automatic qualifiers – the top-three teams from each of the two groups at the 2023 women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, hosts Bangladesh (if they fail to make the cut in 2023), and the next-highest-ranked teams in the ICC rankings when the 2023 edition concludes. The remaining two teams will be identified through the ten-team global qualifying event.The men’s ODI World Cup in 2027 will be a 14-team event, as compared to ten in 2023 in India. South Africa and Zimbabwe will qualify as hosts, along with the next eight teams in the rankings on a date that is yet to be announced. Four others will join these ten via a global qualifier.

While allrounder Cameron Green is on the cusp of a major IPL deal, he’s been left with a “weird” feeling after playing a minimal role in Australia’s strong start to the home Test summer.Green, 23, has attracted enormous interest ahead of the upcoming IPL player auction, but his obvious talents with bat and ball haven’t been greatly required of late.With Australia’s top-order rampant against West Indies, No. 6 Green barely had a chance to spend time in the middle. He didn’t bat in the Perth Test – his first at home – then only made 9 and 5 in Adelaide when declarations were in the air.Related

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On a bowler-dominated Gabba surface, Green played fluently in the first innings for a run-a-ball 18 to briefly curb South Africa’s quicks then faced just three deliveries as Australia staggered over the line in the chase.He has also bowled just 32 overs across the three Tests, including three during the Gabba match. Green didn’t play in the Sheffield Shield ahead of the Tests after being a late inclusion into Australia’s T20 World Cup squad.”It’s definitely been a weird start to the summer for myself not having to do too much,” Green told reporters. “Being an allrounder you’re the guy to help out when the team needs. At the moment it feels like I’m not really needed.”It’s probably a sign of how well the team is playing. We’ve been winning games of cricket and that’s what you want.”Cameron Green leaps in the gully to catch Sarel Erwee•Getty Images

Green, however, remains confident he can have an impact if required in the pivotal Boxing Day Test against South Africa.”All you can look at is how you are training and I feel in a pretty good space,” he said. “I’m hitting the ball well. If you can’t get much game time that’s the only way you can tell how you are going. I feel pretty good in the nets.”He hasn’t been entirely a spectator with Green’s fielding in the gully a particular highlight in Brisbane, where he claimed several sharp catches and five overall.The towering Green is perhaps an unusual presence behind the wicket but his agility and safe pair of hands have made him especially reliable.”I was always in the slips, [gully is] pretty similar,” he said. “The only change is in the gully you’re watching the batter instead of the ball.”Even though he didn’t spend much time batting on the much debated Gabba surface, which was deemed “below average” by match referee Richie Richardson, Green fronted a vicious short bouncer from tearaway Anrich Nortje which sailed over his head to the boundary for byes to end the match.”He [Nortje] has shown what he can bring to the team…that raw pace,” Green said. “You don’t get to face it too much, facing 150 [kph]. I think most of the batters are happy they got to face that. If we can withstand that, and we know we can, it gives us a little insight into how to face him at the MCG.”After enjoying an unexpected few days off, Australia can clinch the series with victory in the traditional Boxing Day Test – the first between the countries since 2008.”Three days to recharge is pretty invaluable. A lot of the guys were lucky enough to go home…been on the road for a long time. ” Green said. “Very special [the Boxing Day Test]. The national anthem always gets to you, it’s loud out there. We’ve had some special games there.”

Rachael Haynes has been appointed head coach of Women’s Premier League team Gujarat Giants, who have also bolstered their support staff roster with Nooshin Al Khadeer as bowling coach, Tushar Arothe as batting coach, and Gavan Twining as fielding coach. Mithali Raj had earlier been signed up to be the team’s mentor and advisor.”The likes of Rachael Haynes, Nooshin Al Khadeer, Tushar Arothe, and Gavan Twining will certainly take the performance of the team notches up,” Raj said in a statement released by the franchise. “Not only have they carved a niche for themselves in their roles, but their stories of resilience will [also] be an inspiration for the team.”Haynes, who retired as a player late last year after a glittering international, domestic and club career, won six world titles with Australia, and was the vice-captain of the team from 2017 to 2022. For Australia, she played six Tests where she had 383 runs at an average of 34.81, 77 ODIs where she scored 2585 runs at 39.76, and 84 T20Is with 850 runs at a strike rate of 117.72.Related

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Al Khadeer, apart from being at the helm when Supernovas had won the Women’s T20 Challenge in 2022, was the coach of the India team that won the women’s Under-19 World Cup in South Africa earlier this week. An offspinner during her playing days, Al Khadeer played five Tests, 78 ODIs and two T20Is, picking up 115 wickets overall.And Arothe, a Baroda batting allrounder who played 114 first-class matches in a career of close to two decades, was the head coach of the India women’s national team for just over a year in 2017-18, before stepping down following reports of strong differences with some of the players. Twining, meanwhile, has been a part of the coaching circuit in Australia for a while, and most recently served as head coach of New South Wales women’s side in the Australian domestic set-up.The WPL is likely to be played between March 4 and March 24, between the Women’s T20 World Cup that ends in late February and the men’s IPL that is set to start one week after the women’s competition.WPL’s player auction, expected in just over a week’s time, will have auction purses of INR 12 crore (USD 1.46 million approx.) per team. Each sude can buy a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 18 players, including seven overseas ones, of which one must be from an Associate country. Unlike in the men’s IPL, WPL teams will have the option of fielding up to five overseas players in the XI, provided, again, that one is from an Associate team.A total of 22 matches will be played in WPL 2023, with each franchise playing the other twice to make it a total of eight games per team. The top-ranked side will enter the final directly, while the second- and third-placed teams will face off in a qualifier to determine the second finalist.

New Zealand have included Kyle Jamieson and Will Young in the NZ XI squad to face England in a two-day pink-ball warm-up match at Seddon Park later this week.Jamieson has not played international cricket since suffering a back injury on the tour of England last year, and the fixture will provide an opportunity to build match fitness ahead of an expected Test return. Young’s last Test appearance also came in England, with Devon Conway preferred at opener in Pakistan over Christmas.The squad includes Tom Bruce, who has played 17 T20Is for New Zealand and will captain the side, as well as New Zealand A players Robbie O’Donnell and Sean Solia. Jacob Cumming, the 19-year-old son of former Test batter Craig Cumming, could also play a part.Related

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“This is a great opportunity for the NZ XI players, from younger emerging players through to established domestic players, to experience playing against quality international opposition,” Gavin Larsen, New Zealand selector, said. “And it’s another important step for Kyle as he looks to get more quality overs under his belt before the England Test series begins.”England are due to arrive in Hamilton on Tuesday ahead of the two-day warm-up fixture as they step up their preparations for the two-Test series, which begins with a day-night Test in Mount Maunganui starting on February 16.New Zealand XI squad: Tom Bruce (capt), Adi Ashok, Jacob Cumming, Sean Davey, Curtis Heaphy (wk), Kyle Jamieson, Jarrod McKay, Robbie O’Donnell, Will O’Donnell, Quinn Sunde, Sean Solia, Theo van Woerkom, Will Young

Few players could claim that the Covid-19 hiatus arrived at a convenient time in their careers. But for Alex Hales, the pandemic could hardly have hit at a worse moment.Back in March, Hales was just threatening to re-build a case for England recognition, following his banishment ten months earlier from the World Cup squad in the wake of his two positive tests for recreational drug use.In a series of commanding displays, first for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash, and then for Karachi Kings in the PSL, he spent the 2019-20 winter racking up 815 runs in 22 innings at an average of 42.89, more than any other batsman on the T20 circuit.His final knock before lockdown had been a belting innings of 80 not out from 48 balls against Lahore Qalanders, and with back-to-back T20 World Cups looming on the horizon – the first of which had been scheduled to get underway in Australia in just over a fortnight’s time – Hales had been set to arrive in the English season as the world’s in-form T20 batsman.But then that world ground to a halt, and instead of taking part in the PSL knock-outs in the final weeks of March, Hales flew home to beat international border closures, only to begin self-isolation after developing symptoms of the virus immediately after his return to the UK.And now, after months of inactivity, much of the fizz in Hales’ game is still dormant. In nine matches to date in the Vitality Blast, he has racked up 173 runs at 19.22 – walk-on roles rather than commanding performances, with just a brace of 40s to showcase his most fluent hitting. In Thursday’s quarter-final, he was once again undone before he could hit his stride, bowled by a beauty from Callum Parkinson for nine from seven balls.ALSO READ: Matt Parkinson aims to finish on a roll as Lancs head to Finals DayAnd yet, thanks to his team’s extraordinary escape in the frantic final moments of that contest against Leicestershire, Hales has been presented a possible two further opportunities to restate his credentials on a televised stage, as Nottinghamshire head to Edgbaston for Finals Day to challenge for the trophy they last won in 2017.”Personally it’s been a bit hit and miss,” he admitted to Sky Sports ahead of the quarter-final. “I’ve have had some decent starts with a decent strike-rate, but not really gone on to those big scores.”But the last 12 months, I’ve been really successful, and I was playing probably the best cricket in my life. Maybe that break hasn’t done me the world of good. But I’m really getting back into it now, and hopefully there’s more of the same this winter.”Hales is set to return to Sydney Thunder for the start of the next Big Bash in December, but it remains to be seen whether any level of performance will be sufficient to earn him forgiveness from England.His captain, Eoin Morgan, spoke of a “complete breakdown in trust” in the wake of Hales’ banishment last summer, and reiterated before his omission from England’s 55-man training pool earlier this year, that time could be the only healer when it comes to any hopes of reintegration.ALSO READ: England’s best T20I team must play together more often – Jos ButtlerAsked what it would take to regain that trust, Hales said: “It’s a very good question. I’m not entirely sure. I’m hoping to sit down with them in the next couple of months, there’s been a small amount of dialogue but nothing’s set in stone at the moment.”[Morgan] said about there being a certain amount of time needed, which is understandable, but it’s coming up to two years now,” he added. “It’s a very long time in a professional sportsman’s career, so hopefully there’s a chance it can happen, and it’s going to come through sitting down with those guys and keeping performing well.”Alex Hales was bowled by Callum Parkinson in Thursday night’s quarter-final•Getty Images

Despite not being in England’s first-choice XI at the time of his removal, Hales would almost certainly have played a role in England’s 50-over World Cup campaign last summer, and might even have reclaimed his place for the final given that his rival at the top of the order, Jason Roy, missed the middle weeks of the tournament with a hamstring strain.But while it would be easy to be consumed by regret after such a high-profile fall from grace, Hales insisted he would not forget what had happened, but neither would he allow himself to wallow in self-pity.”It’s a little bit of both,” he said. “You want to use missing such a huge moment in this country’s cricketing history to spur yourself on, to make sure you get back into that set-up, so I’m trying to use it both ways, trying not to dwell on it, but using it to make myself a better person and cricketer.”I just want to enjoy my cricket with Notts, and if I can repeat the winter I had last year, then hopefully it gives me a chance, and we’ll see what happens in the next few months.”Discussing his situation on Sky Sports, however, the former England captain Michael Atherton suggested that Hales remained a long way from forgiveness, regardless of how he fares on the field.”I never believe in drawing a line under anybody’s name, but I do believe that Eoin Morgan has earned the right as England’s captain to select the side that he wants to take out onto the pitch,” Atherton said.”There’s no real question about Alex Hales’ batting ability. Everybody knows what a fine player he is, one of the best one-day players that we’ve had in recent years. But that’s not the issue.”

New Zealand seamer Matt Henry has become the latest player to have his county contract cancelled on account of the coronavirus pandemic.Henry was due to join Kent – for whom he starred in 2018 – for seven County Championship games at the start of the season, but with all professional cricket cancelled in the UK until May 28 at the earliest, it became clear that he would be unable to play for the club.Henry becomes the fourth player – after Nathan Lyon, Cheteshwar Pujara and Michael Neser – to miss out on a stint in county cricket due to the virus, with more cancellation set to follow. The vast majority of counties (including Kent) have placed their players on furlough, and with no end to the UK’s lockdown in sight, it seems increasingly unlikely that the season will be able to start in June.Paul Downton, Kent’s director of cricket, said: “Once the decision was announced by the ECB that there would be no cricket until at least the end of May it became inevitable the Matt would not be returning to Kent this season.”The club continues to enjoy a good relationship with Matt. He has many friends here and the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received when we announced the he would return in 2020 is a measure of Matt himself: he’s a fantastic person on and off the cricket field.”We’d like to thank Matt for his understanding in difficult circumstances. Hopefully another opportunity will arise in the near future which will allow him to join us once again.”

The ICC has been sent a complaint over alleged government interference in South African cricket, after Cricket South Africa confirmed it will adopt an affirmative-action policy in appointing consultants. The grievance was sent by the South African Institute for Race Relations (IRR), a 91-year old research and policy organisation, and includes six proposals for cricket in the country, among them removing racial quotas from the national team and CSA management entirely.The ICC has not yet received the letter from the IRR.While the IRR recognises that “that the legacy of apartheid casts a long shadow” over sport in South Africa, it has accused CSA of “years of mismanagement and political and governmental interference,” which it claims has caused South Africa to stray from the values of the ICC. The IRR’s letter lists those values as fairness and integrity, excellence, accountability, teamwork, respect for diversity and commitment to the global game and its great spirit.”Fairness has given way to ideological agendas, integrity to political opportunism and manipulation,” the letter reads. “Excellence has been compromised by placing sporting achievement second to political decision-making. A lack of accountability has meant allegations of malfeasance have remained unaddressed, while allowing these problems to escalate to a point where blatant racism is now CSA policy, putting paid to any ambition to respect diversity. Cumulatively, these failures have diminished the spirit of the game of cricket and tarnished the image of the sport.”The letter further asserts that CSA has transgressed against the ICC’s Anti-Discrimination Policy for International Cricket, and made reference to the ban slapped on South Africa during the Apartheid era for its racially discriminatory selection criteria. Under white minority rule, which ended in 1994, South Africa’s national teams only included white-classified players and only played against other white players. The most high-profile example of this was prime minister John Vorster’s opposition to Basil d’Oliveria (a coloured South African player who qualified for England) traveling to play in South Africa. The incident played a major part in South Africa’s isolation from international sport, which ran from 1970 to 1991. The IRR warned that a similar fate could meet South Africa now. “The increasingly worrying actions of CSA once again risk turning South Africa into a racial pariah,” the letter said.While the ICC’s constitution forbids government interference, how the interference is interpreted and members are sanctioned is not so straightforward. Zimbabwe were suspended most recently for government interference, for instance. But the presence of the head of state as the board patron has never been a problem in Pakistan, where currently Imran Khan, the former captain and now Prime Minister, has effectively had the domestic cricket structure overhauled. The BCCI, meanwhile, has admitted India will only play Pakistan if the Indian government grants them permission.Mark Boucher was appointed head coach of the men’s team in December 2019, and Enoch Nkwe, who was team director, and had a stellar coaching record, was moved to the position of assistant coach•AFP

In South Africa’s case, the racial composition of teams has always been dictated to, in part, by government policy. In the Apartheid era, the national team was all-white and William Milton, who was South Africa’s second Test captain and head of the prime minister’s office, blocked Krom Hendricks from playing. Post-readmission, a quota system was introduced in 1999, which required the national team to field four players of colour in an XI. Over the years, that system has been modified and now domestic teams must include a minimum of six players of colour including three black Africans every time they take the field while the national teams must field six players of colour with a minimum of two black African players on average over the course of a season.Despite CSA meeting those targets, it has come under fire in recent months from the sports minister Nathi Mthethwa who was unhappy with the number of white men in positions of power. In December, CSA suspended former CEO Thabang Moreo, who is black African, and appointed Jacques Faul, who is white, in acting capacity (Faul has since resigned and has been replaced by Kugandrie Govender, a woman of Indian heritage) and hired Graeme Smith as director of cricket. Smith appointed Mark Boucher as head coach of the men’s national team and Enoch Nkwe, a black African who had been the interim team director, as Boucher’s assistant. He also roped in Jacques Kallis and Paul Harris (both white) as temporary consultants for the season, while giving Charl Langeveldt and Justin Ontong (both coloured) permanent positions as bowling and fielding coach respectively.The presence of Boucher and Kallis was perceived as the reunification of the clique that the former opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs once said ran the national team and has prompted widespread criticism from former players of colour in light of the Black Lives Movement that has swept through South African cricket. Earlier this week, CSA resolved to apply a policy of preferring candidates of colour for consulting roles and while Govender said the new approach is not set in stone, the IRR has labelled CSA’s actions as “damaging to the core pursuit of the ICC.”The IRR has called for an end to racial quotas and called on the government to fund and secure sporting infrastructure in public schools, on the private sector and communities to assist in grassroots development, and asked that “the powers of politicians and government officials at national and provincial levels to interfere at sport at all levels must be drastically reduced, and have government focus on providing funding on bases of merit and sporting achievement.”CSA will continue to consult with the sports ministry as it seeks to reschedule its AGM, which was postponed from this Saturday.

Kane Williamson recorded his highest Test score of 251 on the second day of the first Test against West Indies, but said that it hadn’t been easy getting there. The bowlers were “making life really difficult” for him, he said after the day’s play, and “trying to stick to my plans for long periods of time” did the trick for him.”Certainly, West Indies’ bowlers kept coming back and bowling heavy into the surface and making life really difficult,” Williamson said at a press interaction. “We couldn’t get much momentum with the bat, but we managed to fight our way through some of those tough periods, which was really pleasing. I suppose when you look at the gap between Test cricket that we’ve had, that’s a nice thing.”

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The gap Williamson referred to was as huge as nine months. New Zealand’s last Test, against India in Christchurch, had ended on March 2 before Covid-19 ensured a long hiatus. That, plus shifting from T20s – he was last in action for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL – to Tests, and the fact that the West Indies bowlers got decent movement couldn’t have been easy to deal with. But the New Zealand captain made it work.Kane Williamson moved past Ross Taylor as the highest-run scorer in Tests at Seddon Park•ESPNcricinfo

“I suppose when it’s looking like that [green pitch], you are going to expect some movement – and there was [movement] – and you can’t control the surface,” Williamson said. “For me, it was just trying to stick to my plans for long periods of time and hope that when you get good balls, you might miss them or they might perhaps go down rather than to the slips.”I think that was sort of the large part of that [innings] and towards the end of my innings, [I was] playing and missing a little bit. There was a little bit [of movement] there, but the surface was certainly getting a bit better [to bat on] coming into today. But I was just trying to stay disciplined and stick to my plan for as long as I could.”ALSO READ: Stats – Williamson doubles his ten-hour tallyOne of the particularly impressive aspects of Williamson’s innings was how well he executed the pull shot, which he put down to dealing well with “steep bounce and a really thick layer of grass [on the pitch]”.”And also with the movement that was there, I still felt that the ball that brings the pads, the stumps and the slip cordon [into play] is still perhaps the most dangerous,” he said. “So [I was] trying to negate that a little bit. It was nice to build partnerships throughout, especially on a surface like that [where] it was quite difficult to start because of the steep nature of the bounce and with the little bit of movement that was there.”The job with the bat has been done, with 519 for 7 declared on the board, and now it’s over to the bowlers from New Zealand’s point of view. By the end of the second day, West Indies had reached 49 without loss with Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell in the middle.”The heavy roller went on it and flattened the grass a little bit more, but I think there’s still enough bounce there and swing as well if we can make sure we build pressure,” Williamson said. “I think there’s enough there, but we know West Indies have come off some Test cricket and they’ve got some number of experienced batters in their side. So it’s not going to easy, but it’s important we focus on what we can control and make sure we bring a lot of energy coming into tomorrow.”

Joe Denly looks set to pay the price for England’s four-wicket defeat in the first Test against West Indies, but Jos Buttler can expect to be given “the best chance to succeed” despite his own flat-lining Test form, as the head coach Chris Silverwood prepares to lift his squad ahead of Thursday’s second match at Emirates Old Trafford.With England’s captain Joe Root set to slot back into the side at No. 4 following the birth of his second child, the obvious fall-guy is Denly, 34, who once again failed to capitalise on a pair of solid starts with scores of 18 and 29 at the Ageas Bowl.After 15 Tests in a row dating back to England’s tour of the Caribbean in early 2019, those latest innings epitomise a flatlining career in which Denly’s average has now slipped back below 30. Moreover they contrast increasingly starkly with the efforts of Denly’s Kent team-mate Zak Crawley – 12 years his junior – whose second-innings 76 at the Ageas Bowl completed the fifth consecutive match in which he has posted a Test-best score.”That’s what we are looking for,” Silverwood said. “If we can create an environment where these guys can learn and continually improve then we will end up with some very good cricketers on our hands.”Zak is improving constantly. He certainly showed maturity and the innings he played was very good. We have some young players in that side that seem to have good heads on their shoulders, and he’s one of them. We’d have all loved to have seen him go on and get up to three figures but what we did was very good and helped us get into the position that we did.”After debuting at No. 6 in New Zealand and playing as an opener in South Africa, Crawley’s selection at No. 4 was a sign that he had been the likelier player to make way for Root’s return in that position in Manchester.However, when pressed on Denly’s continued presence in the side, Silverwood struggled to give his player much solace, and confirmed that his place would come under discussion when he and Root sit down with Ed Smith, the national selector, this afternoon to finalise England’s squad for the second Test.”We’re all desperate to see Joe do really well,” he said. “We can see he’s trying hard, he’s training hard. He’s a great bloke hence why we all went to see him do well, but obviously he’s under pressure a little bit, yeah.”POLITE ENQUIRIES: Does Ed Smith wear Jos Buttler pyjamasAnother player who might expect to feel the pinch is Buttler, England’s vice-captain in Root’s absence, whose scores of 35 and 9 at the Ageas Bowl continued a fallow run of form in which he has scored a solitary half-century in his last 21 Test innings, going back to the tour of the Caribbean.With Ben Foakes now confirmed as the Test squad’s wicketkeeping understudy following Jonny Bairstow’s selection in the white-ball squad to face Ireland at the end of the month, Buttler would appear to be running out of opportunities to translate his world-beating one-day form into the Test arena, where he averages 31.46 with one hundred in 42 appearances.Silverwood, however, indicated that the selectors’ patience had not yet run out, and despite the hugely worthy claims of Foakes – who made a hundred on his debut in Sri Lanka and averages 41.50 in five Tests – he backed England’s incumbent to live up to his indisputable talent.”I’m not going to go down that road yet of putting Jos under pressure, because I don’t think it’s going to help him,” he said. “So, first and foremost, we want to give Jos the best opportunity to succeed. But you’re right, we have got a very, very good gloveman in Ben Foakes out there, which we’re lucky to have.”[Jos] looked brilliant coming into this game, in practice and everything. He looked very good in the first innings. He just needs to go and make those big scores now, doesn’t he? Which he knows as well.”From our point of view it’s just making sure that he feels confident in the environment he’s in. We’ll give him the best chance to succeed really. The rest of it is, he has a good day out, gets some runs, hopefully the rest will be history – he’ll go on from there.”England are at least in familiar territory going into the second Test, having lost the opening match of a series for the eighth time in ten campaigns, dating back to the Ashes tour in 2017-18. Most recently in South Africa they bounced back from a heavy defeat in the first Test at Centurion to win the series 3-1, and Silverwood was hopeful that the same spirit would come to the fore now.”It is something that’s been spoken about, and it’s something that we keep managing to do,” he said. “We have to address and it look at how we get out of the blocks a little bit quicker.”We had a good chat in the dressing room afterwards – as you always do, you sit down and you look at areas where you missed opportunities here, you’ve built well there.”I tend to try and find the positives in everything. And South Africa was used as an example of how well we can bounce back. But what I don’t know want to do is take any credit away from the West Indies because I thought they played very, very well.”Another key issue for England will be the management of their bowling resources, with Stuart Broad champing at the bit to get involved after being controversially omitted from the opening Test, a decision that ended his run of 51 consecutive home appearances.Broad voiced his displeasure at that decision in a mid-Test interview, but Silverwood echoed Ben Stokes’ post-match sentiments and welcomed his determination to continue fighting for his place.”I think Stuart handled himself very well during that interview, to be honest,” Silverwood said. “What I did love about it, and subsequently the conversations I’ve had with him, is that passion. That drive is still there and to see that in someone who’s done as much in the game as he has, I find very exciting to be honest. And Stuart still has a big role to play within this team. I’ve made that very clear to him.”With six Tests to be played in the space of seven weeks, attrition among England’s fast-bowling ranks is inevitable, but Silverwood was optimistic of a clean bill of health in the build-up to Old Trafford.”We have one or two stiff bodies this morning as you can imagine,” he said. “I’ve been to see the guys already. But they all seem to have come through well. We will know more after training tomorrow. We will put them through their paces and see where we are at. Nothing is a given in this team as we’ve seen and people will be playing for their spots. Everything will be considered.”