Chris Silverwood Welcomes The Idea Of Starting Test Matches Early

English cricket team coach Chris Silverwood felt admittedly frustrated like all other cricketers, given how the second Test against Pakistan panned out. Rain and bad light came as a constant interruption, resulting in the two sides batting only once in Southampton. Hence, Chris Silverwood backs the idea of starting the Test matches early in the day, owing to such potential circumstances.

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Only 134.3 overs could be delivered across five days in a match, intervened by unstoppable rains as well as poor light, impairing the sight of players even when the floodlights functioned. England bowled out Pakistan for 236 only on the fourth day, a day where the hosts also began their innings. The Englishmen lost one wicket in five overs, trailing by 229 runs to never return until the final day.

Ahead of the final Test at the same venue, Chris Silverwood called for Test matches to begin half-past ten instead of the usual eleven’o clock. Silverwood stated that they have time at the beginning of the day they could use and labelled it as a good idea. Despite the conversations doing circles on it, the former national cricketer added that there exists no official word.

“It makes sense to me. We have a period at the start of the day we could use, but we try to lump it at the end when light is an issue. In my opinion, it would be a good idea. I know there’s chats around it and there will be no complaints from us if it happens. But I’ve had no official word it’ll happen,” Silverwood stated as quoted by Times of India.

We’re all here anyway: Chris Silverwood

The 45-year old continued stating that they are here in the ground so it would not be difficult to make it happen. The former fast bowler underlined to have both the sides in the bubble, sitting around was tough to see. Chris Silverwood highlighted that one has to express empathy with the viewers too, who are keen to watch some cricket from their television.

“We’re all here anyway. We’re all on the ground, so it wouldn’t be very difficult to make it happen. To have both sides – to have everyone, really – in the bubble sat around was hard work at times. You feel for everyone involved including the viewers at home hoping to watch some cricket. I felt for everyone that we were just here sat around twiddling our thumbs,” he added.

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