Paul Collingwood To Be The England Head Coach For Upcoming West Indies T20I Series

Former England captain and current assistant coach of the national team, Paul Collingwood will be standing in as the head coach of the team when they travel to West Indies for the T20I series containing five matches in the Caribbean.

Collingwood was part of the England T20 World Cup 2021 coaching staff and traveled to the UAE as well. He then went to Australia with the squad for preparing them for the Ashes 2021-22 series, before flying back home in order to spend time with his family and celebrates Christmas, before going to the West Indies.

The series consists of five T20I matches to be played from Saturday, January 22 to Sunday, January 30 at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown in Barbados.

England’s head coach Chris Silverwood has taken breaks occasionally over the last 18 months or so which saw Collingwood deputizing during the ODIs against Ireland in 2020, while Graham Thorpe took charge during the T20I series against Pakistan later that summer.

England Expected To Name A Squad For The West Indies T20Is Next Week

The ECB is slated to name the England squad for the West Indies T20I tour next week and it is expected that no player who is involved in the ongoing Ashes series will be included in it. This is because the first T20I begins on January 22 in the middle of the D/N fifth Test at Hobart.

ESPNCricinfo reported that England players involved in the ongoing Big bash League will be in contention for the squad namely players like Sam Billings, George Garton, and Reece Topley. If selected, they will miss the final stages of the BBL season if selected, with the knockouts running from January 21 to 28.

The squad will give chance to fringe players to shine on their own as Three of the top four that started the T20 World Cup – Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, and Jonny Bairstow – are involved in the Ashes. Many of the other players like Jofra Archer, Jason Roy, Sam and Tom Curran, Olly Stone, Lewis Gregory, Brydon Carse are dealing with their respective injuries and may not be in contention.

Apart from this, ECB will name a separate squad for the three-match Test series against West Indies, which starts in Antigua on March 8, at a later date.

Also Read: IND vs SA: India Will Do Extremely Well On This Tour – Bharat Arun