Cricket news round-up – October 8: Silverwood named England coach, Sri Lanka do it again

England’s search for Trevor Bayliss’ successor came to an end as Chris Silverwood was named their new head coach. Elsewhere, Sri Lanka make it 2-0 against Pakistan, and Marcus Stoinis is dropped from the Australia T20I squad.

Chris Silverwood named England head coach

The England and Wales Cricket Board on Monday, October 7 named Chris Silverwood as the head coach of the men’s national team.

Silverwood, 44, was the team’s fast-bowling coach under Trevor Bayliss, and has now succeeded the Australian as head coach, seeing off competition from Gary Kirsten and Alec Stewart. Stewart had pulled out of the race citing family reasons, but Kirsten was tipped by a few experts as a good fit for the role.

However, Ashley Giles, the England men’s director of cricket, said Silverwood was the “standout candidate”. “I believe he is what we need to take our international teams forward,” Giles said. “He is somebody we know well, but it is his intimate understanding of our structures and systems and his close relationships with Test captain Joe Root and white-ball captain Eoin Morgan that will help us develop our plans for the next few years.”

Sri Lanka seal T20I series win in Pakistan

Sri Lanka shocked Pakistan yet again in Lahore on Monday, easing to a 35-run win in the second T20I to take an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Sri Lanka posted 182/6 after opting to bat, thanks largely to Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s 48-ball 77, and his partnership of 84 with Shehan Jayasuriya (34) for the third wicket. Dasun Shanaka also played a part, scoring a quickfire 15-ball 27*, and the visitors could be happy with a healthy target.

However, Pakistan struggled to mount a solid chase. They were reduced to 11/2, and despite Ahmed Shehzad and Sarfaraz Ahmed combining to take the total past the 50 mark, another collapse left them at 52/5. Imad Wasim was the only batsman to put up a fight, scoring a 29-ball 47, but Pakistan were bowled out for 147 in 19 overs.

Ashwin back in top 10 of ICC Test bowlers rankings

R Ashwin was the big news in the latest ICC Test rankings after he returned to the top 10 among the bowlers, following his eight wickets in Visakhapatnam.

Ashwin’s wickets, in his first international match in 2019, helped India to a 203-run win over South Africa, a match in Rohit Sharma scored twin centuries and Mayank Agarwal scored a maiden double ton.

Elsewhere, Rohit vaulted 36 positions to sit at a career-high No.17, while Agarwal, thanks to his maiden double century, moved up from 63rd to 25th in the rankings. There was something to cheer for the South Africans too, with Quinton de Kock moving into the top ten among the batsmen, and Dean Elgar moving up five places to 14.

McDermott named in Australia squad for T20I tri-series

Marcus Stoinis has been dropped from the squad for the series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with Billy Stanlake and Ben McDermott called up as Australia prepare their team for the T20 World Cup next year.

Only seven players have been retained from the side that played their last T20I series in February, with all of Peter Handscomb, D’Arcy Short and Nathan Coulter-Nile also missing out. Jason Behrendorff was not available for selection, though, and it was confirmed he has been ruled out for the season with a back injury that will require surgery.

Squad: Aaron Finch (capt), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, David Warner, Adam Zampa