Chris Silverwood hopeful to use his Ashes experience to tackle Australia

Sri Lanka will take on Australia in the two-match Test series starting on 29th Jun, after a historic ODI series win against the Men in Yellow. The Sri Lankan team will have their work cut out against a formidable Test side, who are currently at the summit of the World Test Championship points table. Sri Lankan coach Chris Silverwood has remarked about his experience of facing the Aussies before and using it in the upcoming red-ball series.

Australia will be disappointed with their series loss against the hosts, but they will be buoyed by the return of Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith to the Test team. Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc remains a doubtful starter for the first Test. Pat Cummins’ men are in tremendous form in red-ball cricket as they wil head into the Test series against Sri Lanka, having battered England 4-0 in the Ashes earlier this year and following it up with an impressive series victory in Pakistan.

Silverwood, who was part of the English setup during the Ashes earlier this year, has talked about using that experience in the upcoming series. The Australian batters struggled against the slower bowlers in the white-ball series and will have to improve their game against spin to do well in Test matches.

“I keep notes on everything. I’m an avid scribbler, so I’ve got my notes on the Australian batsmen from the Ashes. I’m not going to go too much into the Ashes but whatever knowledge I can bring from there and bring to our guys, I will. Just to see the tactics coming together, to see guys out in the middle scoring runs, to see how we’ve chased totals down,” Chris Silverwood said ahead of the game.

Chris Silverwood pleased with current crop of Sri Lankan players

The former England head coach also spoke his mind on the current Sri Lankan side and praised them. He believes the home team players haven’t realized their full potential yet and still are pushing an impressive side like Australia to the limits. Silverwood’s side might have got one over the Aussies in the ODI series, but the 47-year-old is wary about the Australian side, who will test the resolve of this young Sri Lankan side.

“One of the most exciting things is we’re still nowhere near the potential we have in that team, yet we are still pushing the one of the best teams in the world. That’s very exciting, and we’ve more to come. So we’re going to have to prepare well, and we’re going to have to play well because I know one thing; the Australians are going to come hard at us,” added Silverwood.