Christopher Eric Wilfred Silverwood (born 5 March 1975) is an English former international

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and coach. He is a former head coach of the

Sri Lanka Cricket Team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, (; ) nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 Internat ...

and previously the

England Cricket Team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

Early life and domestic playing career

Born in

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the ...

, West Yorkshire, Silverwood was educated at

Garforth Comprehensive School Garforth Academy (formerly known as Garforth Comprehensive School until September 1992 and Garforth Community College until November 2010) is a secondary school and sixth form for pupils aged 11–18 and is located on Lidgett Lane (B6137) ...

, and as a right-arm fast bowler, made his debut for

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is a professional Cricket club based in Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the County Championship, the top tier of English First-class cricket. Nicknamed "Vikings". Yorkshire also competes in T20 Blast, O ...

in 1993. He played for his native county for thirteen years, and was one of a battery of fast bowlers which the county produced in the late 1990s. With the club he won the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

in 2001 and the C&G (

Friends Provident Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class cricket, first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scott ...

) in 2002. Former England bowling coach Bob Cottam once said he was faster than

Allan Donald Allan Anthony Donald (born 20 October 1966) is a South African former cricketer who is also the former bowling coach of Bangladesh national cricket team. Often nicknamed 'White Lightning' due to his quick bowling, he is considered one of the ...

, and he possessed a lively outswinger and hostile bouncer when the conditions suited. He was also known for his stamina, and was noted for his ability to maintain his pace when returning for spells late in the day. He signed for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

for the 2006 season after playing only six games for Yorkshire in the 2005 season, having left by mutual consent after sustaining a series of injuries. He had a good first season with Middlesex, taking 63 first-class wickets, but struggled with injuries thereafter, leaving the club in 2009. In 2009 he signed a contract with

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

-based franchise

Mashonaland Eagles The Mashonaland Eagles is one of five cricket Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are based in the Harare Metropolitan and Mashonaland Central area and play both first-class and limited overs cricket. They play their home matches at Harare S ...

as player-coach, making his debut against

Matabeleland Tuskers The Matabeleland Tuskers is one of five Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are a first-class cricket team, based in the Bulawayo Metropolitan and Matabeleland North area. They play their home matches at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. They were ...

. By the end of his career, the six-foot one inch paceman had taken 577 first-class wickets in 184 matches at an average of 27.41, with a best of 7 for 93 and 259 List A one day wickets at 25.05 with a best of 5 for 28. Usually a tail-end batsman he was occasionally used as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

in one day games. Silverwood won the

NBC Denis Compton Award The NBC Denis Compton Award was an annual award given to 'The Most Promising Young Player' at each of the 18 first-class counties in England and Wales. The award was made between 1996 and 2011. A player may receive the award more than once. Hist ...

in 1996.

Internationals

Silverwood was selected for the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

tours of

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1996–97. He made his international debut in the first

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) against

on 15 December, with Zimbabwe winning by two wickets. Silverwood followed this with his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut in the first Test, a match which England drew with the scores level at the end of the match. He took four wickets, but was not selected for the second Test, though he did play in the remaining ODIs against Zimbabwe as well as the final two ODIs of the New Zealand leg of the trip. In May 1997, Silverwood made his only home international appearance when he played the third ODI against Australia. His next international appearances did not come until 1999, when he played four Tests of the 1999–2000 tour of South Africa. Silverwood struggled, with the ball not moving, taking 7 wickets at an average of just below 50. He made a final Test appearance in the

2002–03 Ashes series The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

in Australia, finishing his international career with a total of six Tests and seven ODIs.

Coaching career

Essex

In 2010, Silverwood joined

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

as bowling coach, and was promoted to the head coach position ahead of the 2016 season. His first year in the role saw Essex promoted to the First Division of the

, followed by them winning the competition in 2017.

England

Silverwood joined the

coaching team as full-time fast bowling coach in January 2018. He was announced as the new head coach on 7 October 2019, following the departure of

Trevor Bayliss Trevor Harley Bayliss (born 21 December 1962) is an Australian cricket coach and former first class cricketer. He played for New South Wales between 1985 and 1997 before becoming a coach. Bayliss was coach of England from 2015 to 2019. He co ...

at the end of the 2019 season. He was appointed head of selectors in April 2021, which combined both his roles. In the

2021–22 Ashes series The 2021–22 Ashes series, named the Vodafone Men's Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons, was a series of five Test cricket matches that were contested between England cricket team, England and Australia national cricket team, Australia for The ...

Silverwood was criticised for poor decisions - most notably batting first and omitting both James Anderson and

Stuart Broad Stuart Christopher John Broad (born 24 June 1986) is an English former cricketer who played Test cricket for the England cricket team and was One Day and Twenty20 International captain. Broad was a member of the England team that won the 2010 ...

in the First Test, and not selecting

Jack Leach Matthew Jack Leach (born 22 June 1991) is an English professional cricketer who plays internationally for the England Test cricket team. In domestic cricket, he represents Somerset. Leach made his Test debut in 2018. He plays as a left-arm ort ...

in the Second Test. It was announced on 3 February 2022, that he would be leaving the role, following a 4-0 Ashes series defeat.

Sri Lanka

In April 2022, he was appointed as head coach for

Sri Lanka national cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, (; ) nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test cricket, Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T ...

for 2 years. Silverwood resigned from his position on 27 June 2024.

Return to Essex

Silverwood rejoined Essex as director of cricket in November 2024.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silverwood, Chris 1975 births Living people England Test cricketers English cricketers Mashonaland cricketers Middlesex cricketers Yorkshire cricketers England One Day International cricketers Cricketers from Pontefract Sportspeople from Garforth Cricketers from West Yorkshire NBC Denis Compton Award recipients Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 20th-century English sportsmen People educated at Garforth Academy Coaches of the England cricket team