England sack coach Chris Silverwood, director Ashley Giles after Ashes debacle in Australia

4 years AGO
Virat
Virat Verma Cricket expert
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Chris Silverwood is among the biggest casualties from the tour of Australia 2021-22

England have sacked their head coach Chris Silverwood and director of cricket Ashley Giles following their 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Australia in the Ashes 2021-22 Down Under, a series in which the visitors looked totally out of sorts in all departments, producing one of their worst performances against the arch rivals.

England lost 4 out of 5 matches in the Ashes series by huge margins, which started with a nine-wicket spanking at Brisbane, followed by a 275-run defeat in Adelaide. The hosts were absolutely rampant against a struggling English side which was dealing with the effects of coronavirus pandemic and bio-secure bubbles, as they hammered them by an innings and 14 runs in Melbourne in the third Test to claim the Ashes series.

England were bowled out for 68 in the second innings of the Melbourne Test which indicated that all was not well with the team under the leadership and guidance of Joe Root and Silverwood.

England wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow scored an impressive and inspired century in the fourth Test at Sydney to help his side force a draw, but the visitors failed to draw any sort of confidence from that performance, in the final Test at Hobart, in which they lost in a humiliating manner despite making one of the best starts in the series with the bat.

Rory Burns and Zak Crawley added more than 60 runs for the first wicket in the chase of little over 270 in the final innings at Hobart but England collapsed miserably to be bowled out for just 124, losing the game by a huge margin of 146 runs to cap off a pathetic tour.

There had been lots of speculations regarding the future of Silverwood, Giles as well as current Test captain Root, who continues to maintain that he is the best man to lead the team but it is domestic cricket in the country which needs to be overhauled. 

There is no doubt that England have spent their energies in improving their white-ball game after a poor showing in the ICC 2015 World Cup, which sparked a remarkable change in their ODI cricket. It all culminated in England winning the 2019 edition of the 50-over World Cup, but they have, for a few years now, remained an ordinary Test side.