Silverwood to fly home during second Test due to family bereavement
England head coach Chris Silverwood will return home following day two of the second Test against New Zealand due to a family bereavement.
Assistant coaches Graham Thorpe and Paul Collingwood will assume responsibility of team affairs along with captain Joe Root for the remainder of the tour in the absence of Silverwood.
Silverwood, who replaced Trevor Bayliss last month, will fly back to his homeland following the close of play at Seddon Park on Saturday.
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The tourists were thrashed by an innings and 65 runs in their first Test of Silverwood's reign at Mount Maunganui, so they must win in Hamilton to draw the series.
Following a family bereavement, England Head Coach Chris Silverwood will return to England after day two of the second Test match at Seddon Park on Saturday November 30. pic.twitter.com/uyfIHkXFn5
— England and Wales Cricket Board (@ECB_cricket) November 26, 2019
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Ashley Giles, managing director of England men's cricket, has given his backing to Root after he failed twice with the bat in the crushing loss at Bay Oval and his captaincy was called into question.
Giles said: "Joe is our captain and he takes us forward. The stats would say the captaincy has affected his batting. You can't hide from that.
"We've got to work with him to make sure his game is in the best shape and he's got time to work on it away from the pressures of captaincy.
"We want to help him get back to averaging 50-plus and if he's doing that we are going to win games of Test cricket. I am very confident that [the burden] on Joe has changed and Chris is picking up a lot of the slack.
"I feel their relationship is going very well. There is a renewed focus on Test cricket and there are some young players in this team. We are going to make mistakes.
"But it's important that while we have a long-term vision in mind, we are looking at the short-term measures and reflecting and reviewing: do we need to change; how do we get better?
"We can't just get to the Ashes and see how we go. We've got to keep learning and keep getting better."