New England boss keeping eyes on prize in huge year

NEW director of cricket Ashley Giles is keen to make sure nothing derails England’s potential success this year.

Giles has taken over from Andrew Strauss in the top role at the England and Wales Cricket Board.

He comes into the job months before England host a World Cup they are favourites to win, as well as an Ashes series.

He said: “There’s still no guarantee that we will win the World Cup or the Ashes but my role is to give us the best possible chance leading into those two tournaments to give us the most success.”

One of Giles’ other main priorities will be to find a replacement for head coach, Trevor Bayliss, who will leave his role at the end of the English summer.

Giles, who was sacked as England’s one-day coach four years ago, is open to appointing separate coaches for the Test and limited-overs sides.

“Clearly the new coaching structure is going to be front and centre and there’s a lot to think about,” he added.

“There’s been a lot made of two coaches – one specialist under one coach. There are a lot of different options and I need some time to look at everything.

“Myself and Andy Flower split the role. I think it can work, absolutely. The challenges of one guy doing it is the workload, especially going into the next couple of years with the World Test Championship and T20 World Cups back-to-back.”

Meanwhile, Yorkshire all-rounder David Willey claimed the crucial wicket of Melbourne Stars top scorer Ben Dunk, who was caught by Ashton Agar for 62, in Perth Scorchers sic-wicket win in the Big Bash.