They were the words of England team director Ashley Giles just two weeks after England’s dramatic triumph over New Zealand at Lord’s to clinch the World Cup, in the words of Ian Smith, ‘by the barest of margins’.

For that day alone, out of the four years of his reign, Trevor Bayliss will forever go down in English cricket history. It’s not often you can say that about an Australian but it has been well documented how he, alongside captain Eoin Morgan, reinvigorated England’s white-ball setup. This was a team that, at the last tournament in 2015, failed to beat any Test-playing nations and progress past the group stage.

There were rocky spells along the way – think humiliation at the hands of Scotland or even defeat against Sri Lanka in the 2019 tournament which seemed to all but kill hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages. But the resilience shown by the players is not only a testament to their character but to the belief, they had in Bayliss. This was a man they trusted and would work endlessly for.

Critics of his reign will argue that Test cricket took a back seat and therefore decline during Bayliss’ tenure. Bayliss himself has said on many occasions that in the 18 months or so leading into the tournament, the focus was winning the World Cup on home soil, an opportunity that doesn’t rear its head too often. For the summer it gave all cricket fans, old and new, I think few would complain at that.

Results under Bayliss had been patchy at best. One Ashes win with two Ashes defeats.  Home triumphs over South Africa and West Indies. Away defeats at the hands of India and New Zealand. Quite literally a time of highs and lows with the red ball in hand. The statistics speak volumes of England’s stagnation in Test cricket during Bayliss’ time in charge.

Source: PA

The former Sri Lanka coach had always maintained he would see out the remainder of his contract, which ran until this summer’s Ashes, and no more as he plans to return Down Under. This left Giles and the ECB with a big job on their hands; trying to find someone to revitalise England’s fortunes in Test cricket whilst continuing to build-on Bayliss’ white-ball success.

Interest in the role was high with decorated names within the coaching circuit like Mickey Arthur and Gary Kirsten rumoured to be interested. Add to that mix the likes of the new kids on the block in Jason Gillespie, who after spells with first Yorkshire and now Sussex is well-versed in the English county game, and England fast-bowling coach Chris Silverwood, Giles had a shortlist full of star names.

Kirsten, by far the most decorated candidate, appeared to be the frontrunner for the role. The former South Africa opening batter led India to World Cup triumph in 2011 and oversaw South Africa’s rise to the top of Test cricket the following year.

However, it is understood he was reluctant to take on the role of both head coach in Test and white-ball cricket with the workload it would entail. ECB chiefs reportedly spent time trying to convince Kirsten that his work could be managed with two assistant coaches but by then their interests had turned to the relatively unfancied Silverwood.

In many ways, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Giles was always keen to appoint an Englishman to lead the national side (whether that matters is perhaps a discussion for another time) and since joining Bayliss’ backroom staff in January 2018, Silverwood has been key in establishing the current dressing room culture.

Credit: Essex CCC Twitter

One of the key ticks next to Silverwood’s name is his experience on the county circuit which is (yet in recent times has failed to be) the breeding ground of English talent. Although relatively unexperienced in the capacity of head coach, the 44-year-old transformed Essex, who were previously languishing in mediocrity and a shadow of the title-winning sides of the eighties, into back-to-back County Championship title winners, first in Division 2 and then in Division 1. In his first senior coaching position Silverwood delivered the county’s first Division 1 title in 25 years.

He is well-liked not just within the England changing room but also by his former Essex colleagues. One of those, Ravi Bopara, told the Guardian: “He (Silverwood) does not leave a stone unturned. He’s very disciplined in how he wants his cricket to be played. One thing we always said at Essex under him was that if we could control the run rate, that will bring rewards. It’s simple but effective. He’s a coach who gets the best out of players.”

Endorsements like this help to squash questions over whether he is the right man for the job. It could be argued that selecting an existing member of a coaching team that had struggled in Test cricket is cutting your nose off to spite your face and it was time for a new voice and lease of life in the dressing room.

Kirsten would’ve been the ‘sexier’ appointment with his global experience. With England desperately struggling with the bat in the longer format of the game, Kirsten, who scored over 7,000 runs at an average of 45.27 opening the batting in Test cricket, would’ve been the straight forward choice in trying to turn around their fortunes. The South African also had far more experience in international Test cricket, playing 101 times for his country compared to Silverwood’s six appearances.

But the ECB liked what they saw. Silverwood reportedly interviewed very well, giving a clear indication as to the direction he wanted to take the side and most importantly delivering a clear message on how England would attempt to win the Ashes in Australia in 2021-22 whilst challenging for the inaugural World Test Championship.

The ECB panel comprising of Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, John Neal, the head of coach development, and Giles described Silverwood as the “standout candidate” and said: “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.”

Kirsten, on the other hand, reportedly failed to impress the panel with his interview. You’d hate to think that a head coach of an international cricket team was given the job just because of his Powerpoint presentation skills and this is undoubtedly a brave appointment by Giles.

But it is one he is clearly confident in making. Senior players in the England dressing room would undoubtedly have been consulted for their thoughts and the fact that Silverwood was eventually awarded the role speaks volumes for the esteem and respect they hold him in. Coming into the inner sanctum of a new dressing room can be a daunting prospect and one less thing for the familiar face of Silverwood to contend with.

Touring New Zealand and South Africa (who, admittedly, are not currently at their best) this winter gives Silverwood an unforgiving start to life in the hot-seat. But if there’s anything we’ve learned about England’s new strapping head coach, it’s that you write him off at your peril. This wasn’t a token appointment to give a young English coach a chance.

Silverwood has done his time in the background and now it’s time for him to step into the spotlight.

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One of the ECB’s missions over the last few years, aside from winning a trophy (the name of which slips my mind), has been to get the general public re-engaged in the sport. We’re often told that amateur cricket is dying and that watching cricket is both not enjoyable and not possible since the game moved largely behind the paywall. Efforts to revitalise the game include programmes like All Stars cricket, a fun introduction to cricket for five-to-eight year olds, at grassroots level and initiatives to pack out crowds at international and domestic fixtures over the past few years.

It has been the razzmatazz of white-ball cricket that has invited those who previously felt shunned by the game to dip their toe into the water. The impact on the game’s audience has been remarkable with more fans flocking to watch the game, shown by both Surrey and Sussex selling out all but one of their home game’s during the group stages of their respective T20 Blast campaigns, and more watching the game on TV. The Guardian’s Ali Martin reports that the Cricket World Cup final, shared by Sky and Channel 4, peaked at 8.92m unique viewers in the UK, beating the previous record from the 2005 Ashes series which was shown on terrestrial TV. Of course, a home World Cup which ended in success in the most dramatic of manners has been the biggest driving force in catapulting cricket back into the public eye.

Those newbies that have been going to games have been impressed too. Not just by the standard of cricket on show (in fact, it would be naïve to say that was the main reason) but by the whole experience of going to cricket with the drinking, eating and singing that often accompanies it. That cocktail might upset the stomachs of staunch purists who believe the game’s values of respect and gentility are not just calcified in the rules on the field but also off it. Cricket fans have never liked being labelled as customers, as so often their football following counterparts are, because, in the most simple terms, it is just not cricket. But increasingly so, this is becoming the case.

But in the game’s attempt to appeal to the masses, to drive participation and put cricket back in the public eye (although many will tell you it never left), the type of fan that enjoys cricket has inevitably changed. In actuality, ‘change’ is the wrong term, one that gives an excuse for those who ‘enjoy the game just how it is’ to criticise the direction that both cricket and its supporters have evolved in.

Evolution is not always a bad thing either; in fact, cricket probably did need it. The answer as to whether the game’s governing body have gone about this in the right way is for another time (a la The Hundred) but in changing the how the game is viewed, the viewer was naturally going to change too.

This summer’s Ashes series has had a very different tone to usual. Not because the ‘tough’ Aussie’s have sacrificed some of their traditional grit in favour of ‘the spirit of the game’, as evidenced by David Warner keeping relatively shtum during the series – although we probably have Stuart Broad to thank for that. Whilst the action on the pitch has been as volatile, hostile and entertaining as any recent Ashes series, the atmosphere in the grounds themselves has been markedly different.

There now appears to be a new audience not just testing the waters of the shorter format but also Test cricket, the most prestigious form of the game. There’s probably not a better place to do so than in cricket’s most historic series too. The England supporters have come out in force, as they always do against their old foe. We’ve seen Watermelon inflatables, sustained drum rolls every time Nathan Lyon received the ball back to bowl following his Headingley nightmare and hysterics over Jack Leach’s glasses cloth. It’s been a funny old summer and one where the lines of expectation between watching the shorter formats of the game and watching Test cricket have been blurred.

For many it makes for a more enjoyable atmosphere in which to take in the rollercoaster ride that is a Test cricket series but for the more traditional fan the raucous crowds are just not what cricket is about. Whatever side you take on that, you have to accept that there is more than one way to enjoy watching cricket – and no right or wrong one at that.

Like England captain Joe Root has found out whilst managing the workload of the enigmatic fast bowler Jofra Archer, it’s a delicate equilibrium that no one is keen to upset. After all, the game really can’t afford to.

But where this balance has been upset this summer is the cases of abuse directed towards both players and fellow spectators. In this series alone we have seen the continual booing of the Australian trio of Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith (who brushed off the haters to produce a pretty good series by all accounts), with one case seeing an MCC member ejected from Lord’s for his abuse of the later. There’s also been abuse directed at Jofra Archer who was asked by two Australian fans to ‘show us your passport’, with the fans being immediately ejected.

Although it should never be tolerated, abuse directed at players, it could be said, is part and parcel of professional sport in the public eye. But one particular case that caught my eye during the series was that of an ordinary fan, just like you and I.

Still nothing from @lancscricket or @ECB_cricket regarding the sustained racism, homophobia, misogyny and antisocial behaviour that myself and others were subjected to/witnessed

So I’ve written it down in a letter which I will post to their CEO’s of tonight #Ashes2019 #ENGvsAUS pic.twitter.com/mvh9cTKFtw

— Ed Marsh (@ted_harsh) September 6, 2019

Ed Marsh published the letter he sent to Lancashire CEO Daniel Gidney on Twitter where he alleges he reported several incidents of racist, sexist and homophobic abuse in the stands at Old Trafford that stewards, who witnessed the abuse, failed to act upon. He compares this to someone tweeting Lancashire regarding a broken hand dryer at Old Trafford, which was promptly fixed, compared to his reporting of the distressing incident via the same medium which went ignored.

The ECB have since said that they are ‘extremely disturbed’ by such reports and will look to investigate further and many including myself hope this is the case. The governing body cannot allow such behaviour to fester in the sport and more specifically in the terraces. It’s one thing that cricket has always been proud of and one thing that fans of the game have often used to defend it’s supposed inferiority to football with.

As football has found out, once these incidents start to occur, they mushroom beyond comprehension to the point that it almost becomes part of the game’s fabric. The long process of eradicating hooliganism in football shows just how difficult it is to rid a sport of such behaviour.

By no means is this a dig at all supporters either, rather the minority who perhaps seem to prioritise drinking in the stands over watching the action unfold. In recent years I’ve heard of many families who now say the drinking culture of fans at cricket, particularly domestic T20 matches, which incites anti-social behaviour has made it impossible to take children to cricket.

Action needs to be taken now to ensure the game maintains the balance between entertainment and the sport. Whilst the game should continue to diversify, the same standards of common decency should continue to apply to all. This isn’t a case of snobbery from the purists who resist change and I maintain that there is no one way to watch the game. But surely, raucous crowds firing vile abuse left, right and centre is just not cricket.

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