Former England batter Ian Bell has urged England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to bring back the traditional selection panel to pick the squad after the Joe Root-led England team suffered three embarrassing defeats in a row in the ongoing Ashes 2021-22 in Australia.
Since the ECB removed the position of national selector in April this year to create clearer "lines of accountability" in the selection, England head coach Chris Silverwood is solely responsible for squad selection, with captains Root and Eoin Morgan assisting him in selecting the playing XIs.
Well, Silverwood has come under fire for numerous decisions in the ongoing Ashes. He was widely criticized for resting experienced bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad on a bowler-friendly pitch in Brisbane and then dropping pacer Mark Wood and spinner Jack Leach on a dry deck in Adelaide.
After losing the first two Ashes Tests, the head coach made four changes in the Boxing Day Test, but it also backfired badly, as England registered their lowest innings score (68) in Australia since 1904 and lost the third Test by an innings and 14 runs, as well as the Ashes to Australia in Melbourne.
Following England's horrific outing so far in the five-match Test series in Australia, Bell called for the restoration of the traditional selection model, saying it would provide a different perspective.
Bell told Sportsday: “One of the hardest things, and I was very shocked if I'm honest with you, was when we went away from the chairman of selectors thing.”
He further added, “Even looking at it from a player's point of view…, you're not stupid enough to think (Chris Silverwood) is not part of the selection, but since he is head selector, how would you have the honest conversations with the head coach and say, 'I might be struggling a little bit here', because he is the man who's making all the decisions.”
The 39-year-old believes that someone who is not present in the dressing room and does not interact with players on a daily basis will be more suited for the job.
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He further explained, “I think you need a chairman of selectors who sits outside of the dressing room sometimes, who's not attached to all the players emotionally or what's going on a daily basis and can actually see things from a different set of eyes, which I think is really important.”
Bell signed off by saying, “When you look at it now, you look at some of the selections we've had and decisions we've made at the toss, it's been very internal, there's not been a lot of advice from that outside, who aren't in those day-to-day training sessions and in the bubble and it all becomes a bit emotional. They need another set of eyes helping them to make these decisions.”
(With PTI Inputs)
