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The Chelmsford-based county turned to old boss Silverwood after Anthony McGrath departed in October to take over at Yorkshire. Silverwood is “home” and eager to build on an outstanding previous stint where he guided Essex to promotion in 2016 before a year later securing the County Championship title. The 49-year-old has been on a journey since with a difficult spell as England head coach followed by two years leading Sri Lanka before he was tempted to return to the domestic scene when he received a call from Essex this winter.
Even though Silverwood last made major headlines for being dismissed by England following a Covid-19 disrupted 4-0 Ashes series defeat three years ago, he holds no grudges and is in no doubt he is a better person for it. “There’s always things you’re going to look back on and say we could have done that differently. Would I have taken on so much? Probably not,” Silverwood said.
“At the time you do things for what you think are the right reasons and you learn from them, so I don’t hold any animosity or any grudges, or anything like that. “You put it down to experience. Has it helped me grow as a person? Yes.
Has it helped me grow as a coach? Definitely. And the lessons I’ve learned, when I went to Sri Lanka, again, I was able to put them in place as well. “As I said when I exited England, I’m still an England fan.
I still want them to do well.” England’s aggressive ‘Bazball’ style has taken the nation by storm since Silverwood was replaced by Brendon McCullum in the summer of 2022. Silverwood has enjoyed the bold philosophy from afar and also taken pride in the fact players he gave Test debuts to – Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley – have flourished under the leadership of Ben Stokes and McCullum.
He added: “Obviously the two guys that came in, Ben as captain and Baz, they put their character on there and it worked so good on them. “Did we enjoy watching it? Absolutely. We enjoyed watching, I think everybody did, but equally, we have to understand that you go to Australia, you go to India like they have now, they’re tough places to play cricket.
” One-time England bowler Silverwood has long moved on from dwelling on what if and while he was dealt a bad hand with his tenure affected by the coronavirus pandemic following a fine 3-1 Test series win in South Africa, the immediate task for Essex’s new director of cricket is to better his first spell. That will not be easy given Silverwood guided Essex to back-to-back red-ball titles, which was followed by further silverware under his old number two McGrath, but the Yorkshireman has a twinkle in his eye again. “From a personal development point of view, Sri Lanka was superb and it came at a good time as well off the back of England and everything,” Silverwood said.
“You say I am a proud Yorkshireman, but Essex is home and it has been for a long time now. My kids are all born down here. “For me, it is coming home.
This is my home, so I’m very proud to be back. I’m obviously proud to have the involvement I did last time, but to come back and get to help again, I’m very proud. And we’ve got to beat it.
“I am proud of the system we left that works but equally I am proud of the fact Mags picked it up and ran with it. He continued to drive what we put in place and we have punched well above our weight. “What we have to do now is make sure we continue to do that for many years to come.
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