Friday 06 / September / 2024
Nottingham : West Indies wicketkeeper-batter Joshua De Silva said on Tuesday that he is looking at England's sharp focus towards the 2025-26 Ashes series against Australia during the ongoing series against his side as an opportunity that could help his side win the crucial second Test and keep the series alive.
The second Test between England and West Indies will start from Thursday at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
England secured a dominant win by an innings and 114 runs at Lord's to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
It was also the retirement game for the pace legend James Anderson, who retires from the sport with a total of 991 international wickets, including 704 Test scalps. From Tuesday onwards, Anderson took on a new role within the team as a bowling coach. Anderson's retirement, his transition into a coach, and the debuts of pacer Gus Atkinson and wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith were done with one thing in mind: the 2025-26 Ashes series in Australia, where England desperately wants to regain the prestigious urn after losing it in the 2017-18 season. Also, England's last Ashes series win on Australian soil was back in 2010-11.
Silva said that he is not irked by England's preparation for the future, which has attracted some criticism from cricketing community for taking West Indies and Sri Lanka, the sides touring UK this summer, for granted. Rather, the wicketkeeper-batter understands England's motivation to prepare for an assignment for as big as an away Ashes in advance.
Silva said that if England takes WI for granted, they could get a chance to secure an important win to keep the series alive.
"That is their biggest fixture of their calendar," Da Silva said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
"So if they are looking forward, they are looking to groom some players to make sure they have their team ready for them. I do not think it is wrong of them at all."
"Nah, it does not hurt us. I do not study it especially. We still have to play the cricket. If they take us for granted we might get a win, or might win the series. For me, I take that as a favour," he concluded his point.
Da Silva, who scored zero and nine in his two innings, said that the batting was not up to the mark in the first Test, but there are a few positives, like players getting fine starts.
"Obviously in the batting a few of us did not stick our hands up. We had a few soft dismissals. We are pretty disappointed after the first Test. We have put that behind us, we have had our discussions, and we are looking forward to the second Test. We are doing everything we can, rebuilding, and going hard forward into the next Test," said Silva.
"It might not look like it, but we have taken a few positives. A lot of guys got starts and just did not carry on. We talked about soaking up more pressure and how we are going to deal with those situations if we are put in them again. Not losing wickets in clusters...
"It is about reminding ourselves of the process and trusting that process because all of us have a different way of going about it. It is just about trusting our own game and making sure we get the job done," he concluded.
