England head coach Chris Silverwood has hinted that England may go for an all-seam attack and opt against selecting a specialist spinner for the first Test against South Africa in Centurion.

The visitors had gone for a similar strategy for the second Test against New Zealand in Hamilton last month, keeping full-time spinner Jack Leach out of the side and leaving slow ball duties to captain Joe Root and Joe Denly.

When asked if England will reflect on choosing an all-pace attack, Silverwood said, “We looked at the stats in Hamilton and they showed spin didn’t have much effect on games there. It’s the same here.

Would either of these two be in your England XI for the first Test against South Africa? pic.twitter.com/jULLe1TMvJ

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 16, 2019

“It’s not rocket science and those stats are readily available. Look at the amount of wickets taken by seam and spin in Centurion and the averages that go with them. They suggest seam is the way forward. We’re seriously looking at that.”

England have not been forced into the choice for lack of options. Last week, there were serious doubts over the availability of Leach and pacemen Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad, who had all been struck by a flu-like bug and missed the two warm-up matches. England had even brought in Dominic Bess and Craig Overton in the squad as a cover for the ill players. However, all three bowlers have seemed to made a full recovery and were seen participating in the nets on Monday.

The visitors have a plethora of resources at their disposal. Along with Leach, they have uncapped leg-spinner Matt Parkinson in the side and the two-Tests old Bess, who was recently called up. If they do go for an all-seam attack, they have plenty of options in Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, James Anderson and Mark Wood apart from the obvious candidates – Archer and Broad.

Silverwood is aware of the options in the spin department and hasn’t completely ruled out the possibility of playing a slow bowler, but stated that the management will take the conditions and stats into account to decide what will be the best course of action in the coming days.

“We’ve got some good resources in the spin department, Leachy is coming back to fitness now, we’ve got Dominic Bess here as well, Parky who bowled nicely in Benoni [where England drew with South Africa A in a tour match],” said Silverwood.

“So we’ve got the resources but we’re looking at it for what it is, what has most effect in this game. We’re not definitely going down the road of all seam, but it’s something we’ve got to discuss over the next few days.”

Silverwood was also pleased with Archer’s progress in the nets and is keen on having him back on the team.

“He [Archer] bowled a few overs with me the day before and he just backed it up again, so if we can see a few more sessions like that then he’d throw his hat in the ring.

“Maybe there’s a little bit more caution around it, if I’m brutally honest, but more than anything it’s for his well-being as well. If he’s going out on the pitch we need to make sure he’s 100 per cent, but equally he’s played a lot of cricket as well – albeit maybe not at Test level.

“I don’t think (it’s a gamble) as long as from a medical point of view they feel good,” he added.

England will play South Africa in the first of the four Tests from December 26 at SuperSport Park, Centurion.