
With their side 1-0 down in the four-match Test series after a huge loss in Centurion, coach Chris Silverwood and captain Joe Root are contemplating options that will hopefully allow England to make a successful comeback at the New Year's Test in Cape Town. And if among those options, one is dropping either Stuart Broad or James Anderson, the team's longstanding new-ball pair, in favour of a spinner to support the in-form Sam Curran and Jofra Archer, Silverwood says, so be it.
"In Jimmy and Stuart we have a wealth of experience and we'd be really stupid not to take that into consideration every game. It would be naïve of us not to do that," ESPNcricinfo quoted the head coach as saying.
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"But equally you do want your youngsters to come through and if we're going to make room for a spinner then we've got to have a look at that."
This isn't to suggest that Anderson or even Broad are now going down in England's pecking order, not at all, especially considering the former was making a comeback to first-class cricket after an injury lay-off in the Boxing Day Test and the latter was battling illness leading upto the encounter.
"We have to look at which seamers will be right for that particular pitch and choose from there. If there is a big decision to be made, we're not afraid to make it," Silverwood, however, said.
"We started off planning the bowl at the top of off [stump] on the third morning. Then the tailenders frustrated us and we went off-piste a bit at that point. We formulated a new plan and that worked well. We've got to make sure that when we're bowling we're very clear on what we have to do and we stick to the plan."
(Inputs from ESPNcricinfo)
