England cricket head coach defends rotation policy

England cricket head coach Chris Silverwood this week stood by team’s rotation policy even though it could cause him some selection headaches ahead of the four-match Test series against India. during the upcoming tour of India.
The team rested its two star players, all-rounder Ben Stokes and fast bowler Jofra Archer, during the recently concluded two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.

England will likely be playing at least 17 Tests this year and they have already decided that batsman Jonny Bairstow and pacemen Mark Wood and Sam Curran will be given a break from the first two Tests against India in Chennai.
Meanwhile, wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler will head home after the opening match of the four-Test series, despite being in good form with the bat and behind the stumps in Sri Lanka.

“I’m perfectly happy with the system we’re using at the moment. I stand by it,” England head coach Silverwood told a conference call with reporters.
Several observers have suggested the policy reflects England’s over-riding obsession with the Ashes — they travel Down Under in 2020/21.

But amid accusations it is disrespectful to treat other Tests as ‘warm-ups’ for the Ashes, Silverwood insisted the constraints of playing cricket amid the coronavirus pandemic justified a rotation policy.
“We’ve got to look after our people,” he said. “We’re spending a lot of time locked in hotel rooms inside bio-secure bubbles and it’s not easy.

“It’s good that we’re being proactive and looking after people. “They can’t be with me all the time, that’s not the world we live in.”