‘Excited’ Paul Collingwood steps up to lead England for upcoming West Indies tour

The removal of former Yorkshire bowler Chris Silverwood after the 4-0 Ashes thrashing, followed by that of assistant coach Graham Thorpe, left Collingwood as the highest ranked member of the backroom team left standing.

Having led the recent Twenty20 series in the Caribbean, which England lost 3-2, the 45-year-old has been chosen by acting director of cricket Sir Andrew Strauss for the Tests in Antigua, Barbados and Grenada instead of bringing an outside voice into the set-up.

Surrey’s vastly experienced team director Alec Stewart had been heavily touted as a short-term option but the temporary appointment has been kept in-house for now.

Whether Collingwood is seen as a viable permanent successor to Pontefract-born Silverwood remains to be seen, but as a former England captain in white-ball cricket and a highly-rated coach in his own right the next few weeks could present an opportunity for him to make his case as the leading homegrown candidate.

The last time an interim coach took the reins for a series in the West Indies, Andy Flower in 2009 following the sacking of Peter Moores, he went on to land the job permanently and enjoyed huge success in taking the Test side to number one in the world. Strauss was captain of Flower’s side and counted Collingwood as a trusted team-mate.

The former Durham player is already in the West Indies, having stayed on for a break, and will join the team in Antigua when they arrive on February 25.

The squad, which is likely to contain a couple of new faces alongside the majority of the side that nosedived in Australia, is set to be named on Tuesday.

Collingwood said: “I am genuinely excited to be leading the Test team for the tour of the Caribbean. I can’t wait to get started.

“Having a challenging Test series against the West Indies straight off the back of the Ashes disappointment gives us a chance from now to reset and rebuild.

“Playing Test matches for England is the highest accolade in the game.

“My objective is to give players clarity, direction and encouragement for them to start building something special.”

England’s red-ball side has been on the slide for the last 12 months and with one win in the last 14 Tests, they are in the midst of a dire slump in results.

Collingwood must now begin the job of halting that sequence.

“I have spoken to Joe Root and Ben Stokes (captain and vice-captain), and both are excited and passionate to take the team forward in this new cycle,” he said.

“Although they know it won’t be easy, they have the desire and bravery to do things differently to ensure the team can prosper. We have an opportunity to get back on track.”

Collingwood will need a new support team in place, with another former Yorkshire player, Richard Dawson, a possible asset following his work with the England Under-19s and Lions.

Former England captain Michael Atherton described changes to the coaching set-up as “brutal” and said the focus should now switch to Yorkshire’s Root and his players.

Atherton told Sky Sports News: “Nobody likes to see people lose their jobs. But as painful as it is, I think they had to make some changes given how the team have performed for the last year or so and given the way the Ashes went.

“They’ve made some pretty quick and brutal changes, three senior positions in management and coaching. The focus now has to come back on the captain and the players.

“England for a period now, partly because of Covid, restrictions and bubbles, have been constantly thinking ahead, six to nine months down the line, and rather lost sight of what’s in front of them.

“They have to get back of keeping it pretty simple and trying to win the next game that is in front of them.”

Nasser Hussain expects Collingwood to bring “fight and character” to an England camp that he said appeared to have given up by the end of their Ashes thrashing.

The former England captain told Sky Sports News: “I think it needs a reset and a new way of thinking about our red-ball cricket. I think the director of cricket will be the most important person making these choices in the months ahead.

“The key quality Paul Collingwood can bring is a real feisty nuggety cricketer.

“He was an over my dead body cricketer and he can bring a bit of that to this tour.

“Towards the end of that Ashes tour they fell over in a heap. People were backing away in that last Test match at Hobart, it was almost as if they had given up.

“Paul Collingwood never gave up on a game of cricket. The one thing I remember about him as a player was someone who gave it everything and showed a lot of fight and character.

“That’s what he’s got to bring to this squad of players.”