'Intent to score' - Chris Silverwood on one of the areas to address as Sri Lanka's head coach

Sri Lanka’s newly appointed head coach Chris Silverwood has been lining up a lot of things in the improvement area for the Island nation. Silverwood was sacked as the head coach of England after a horrific performance in the Ashes but he certainly has a lot to offer in the coaching setup. Sri Lanka have been a team that is in the developing phase for a long time now but has started to show good signs in recent times.

In the T20 World Cup 2021, Sri Lanka were one of the sides to have produced some impressive performances although it did not reflect in their results column. After a considerable period of time, plenty of Sri Lankan players made it to the IPL stages this year, and it definitely seems a major boost going forward.

We have to give the batters the confidence to go out there: Chris Silverwood

Silverwood noted that one of the things that he would want to work upon with the Sri Lanka side is the intent to score runs and stressed the importance of playing with a lot of freedom. He added about being smart, positive, and brave to ensure that the dot-ball percentage comes down and the strike rate goes up. Silverwood also felt the need to instill confidence inside the dressing room while setting up totals and chasing scores.

“I have spent the last couple of weeks just digging through stats, looking at how we can improve. One of them is the intent to score. We have to give the batters the confidence to go out there and not fear getting out. That’s not to say we have to be reckless; what I’m saying is we have to bring smarts into that as well. But I do want them to be positive, I want them to be brave. If we go with that attitude, the dot-ball rates will come down and the strike rates will go up, which can only be a good thing,” Silverwood said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

“It’s all about scoring runs and that’s what we want the batting line-up to do. I’ll try and instill some confidence into the boys so they can go out there and construct their innings and score big runs, certainly in the first innings, and give us something to bowl at. It’s not rocket science,” he added.