Collingwood to stand in as England head coach during West Indies T20I series

Paul Collingwood is set to stand in for Chris Silverwood as England's head coach during their T20I series against West Indies next month.

Collingwood, one of England's assistant coaches, travelled to the T20 World Cup first and then the Ashes with the national team, but flew back to the UK last week. He will spend Christmas at home before going to Barbados for the five-match T20I series in mid-January.

Silverwood, England's head coach, has occasionally taken series off over the last 18 months in order to ease his workload amid a gruelling international schedule. Collingwood deputised during the ODIs against Ireland in 2020, while Graham Thorpe took charge during the T20I series against Pakistan later that summer.

Silverwood insisted after the T20 World Cup that he wanted to continue as head coach across formats but his position will come under scrutiny with England 2-0 down in the Ashes in Australia and staring for a series defeat.

England are expected to name a squad for the West Indies tour next week, which is unlikely to include any of those involved in the Ashes since the first T20I begins on January 22, four days after the scheduled fifth day of the final Ashes Test in Hobart. All five T20Is will be played at Kensington Oval in Barbados, where Collingwood captained England to their first men's T20 World Cup in 2010.

Players involved in the Big Bash League, such as Sam Billings, George Garton and Reece Topley, are expected to be considered for the T20Is, and will miss the final stages of the BBL season if selected, with the knockouts running from January 21 to 28.

England's squad is likely to include several fringe players. Three of the top four that started the T20 World Cup - Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow - are involved in the Ashes, while several players including Jofra Archer, Jason Roy, Sam and Tom Curran, Olly Stone, Lewis Gregory, Brydon Carse are on the mend after going down with injuries.

A separate England squad will be named at a later date for the subsequent three-Test series against West Indies, which starts in Antigua on March 8.