This summer could be up there with 2005
IN his first interview since being appointed England supremo, Ashley Giles says his cricketers can rekindle the mood of that heady Aussie-beating summer
‘Having had two brain tumours, my wife sees it as a ticking time bomb’
Ashley Giles has no doubts where his thoughts will turn should eoin Morgan seal four years of unprecedented white-ball progress at lord’s this summer by becoming the first england captain to lift a 50-over World Cup.
‘It would mean a huge amount to everyone, but most importantly it would be a great legacy for Andrew strauss and his wife Ruth if we could win the World Cup,’ says the new man at the helm of the england team. ‘It has taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to this point and it was straussy’s vision and drive, from the appointment of Trevor Bayliss as coach onwards, to give us this huge chance. I’ve only just come in.
‘As a country we’re talking of a similar scale to 2005 if we could win the World Cup and Ashes this summer, that would be enormous,’ continues one of the heroes of that fabled triumph over Australia.
‘There’s a lot of love for cricket in this country and if we get good weather and great cricket we have a fantastic opportunity. We want to make the country proud. Wearing those three lions is special and our players are carrying the hopes of the country this summer. It would mean an awful lot to win it.’
his words are poignant because, not only did he take over as managing director of england men’s cricket from former captain strauss in the most tragic of circumstances after the death of Ruth from cancer, but Giles knows personal trauma only too well.
In 2006, while the ex-england and Warwickshire left-arm spinner was in Australia battling in vain to retain those Ashes, his wife stine was diagnosed with a brain tumour ‘the size of a cricket ball’.
The couple have reacted with bravery and dignity since, raising funds through The Giles Trust to combat the disease, and 13 years later the battle goes on, with stine having to overcome the return of a small tumour late last year.
‘We live with it as a family and my wife lives with it daily,’ Giles says. ‘I guess, having two brain tumours in her head, she can see it as a ticking time bomb. There’s a whole load of emotions when it comes round to scanning time every six months. she gets nervous, but we’ve lived with it and one thing we’ve always said we will never do is sit still. We have to get on with our lives. There was never an issue over me taking this job.
‘My wife has a fantastic attitude towards her illness and has been incredibly supportive of my career. she still gets up and makes me a cup of tea at 5.30 every day!’ One of the most popular figures in english cricket smiles, as he does throughout this interview.
But it is as a no-nonsense, decisive and ruthless administrator that Giles, 46, has made his mark since taking office at the start of arguably the biggest year in the history of the england team.
Giles displayed determination in the aftermath of his harsh sacking as england’s one-day coach at the start of 2014 by changing his career path and targeting a top managerial job in the game. he told stine, schwarzenegger-style, ‘I’ll be back.’
Now he has lived up to that tough reputation since taking a master of sports directorship degree at Manchester Met University and becoming Warwickshire’s sports director, before landing the big one.
Firstly, he told assistant coach Paul Farbrace, the man who kickstarted the white-ball revolution, that he should leave for his new job immediately — ironically replacing Giles at edgbaston — rather than working through the World Cup.
Then Giles demoted red-ball batting coach Mark Ramprakash ahead of the Ashes rather than let him see out his contract with the Test team until september. First Farbrace. ‘I had to make the call, but it was done with eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss,’ says Giles. ‘With change coming anyway we didn’t want a long goodbye. We just felt “let’s go now”.
‘ everyone appreciates what Farby has done, but he’s been looking at other things too. There are no hard feelings and the change will be good for him.
‘The international circuit can be wearing. We’re fortunate to have Paul Collingwood. We might win the World Cup, we might not, but either it way won’t be down to Farby not being there.’
Giles is keen to dispel suggestions Ramprakash was sacked. ‘It was a tough decision,’ he says. ‘Our Test cricket hasn’t been firing as much as our one-day game and I felt a change would be necessary. It doesn’t make Ramps a bad person or a bad coach but it was based around what gives us the best chance of winning the Ashes. It’s tough on him, but he’s handled it well and he still has a big role to play this summer.
‘I must emphasise he hasn’t been sacked. We don’t want to focus so much on the World Cup that we don’t prepare properly for the Ashes, so there is plenty for Ramps to do.’
Giles will soon have to make a huge decision when Bayliss leaves after the Ashes. The new team director gave a glowing reference to bowling coach Chris silverwood in Barbados but it’s premature to believe the former england seamer is being promoted just yet.
‘I did laugh when I saw headlines saying ‘spoons’ had virtually got the job because I was asked if Chris silverwood was a candidate and I said, “Of course he is”,’ says Giles. ‘What he did at essex as coach was remarkable. But there will be other candidates and we need to cast our net wide.
‘It will need to be someone who fits with our culture and we’re starting to build that the right way now around really good players. We can’t afford to bring someone in who tries to change that.’
And there will be no repeat of the clash between Giles and Andy Flower when they shared coaching duties. Giles wants one man in charge with three assistants working closely with him. This summer Bayliss will be supported by silverwood, Collingwood and Graham Thorpe and those three will figure in the new set-up.
‘I believe there should be one head coach,’ Giles insists. ‘And of course we will have to make sure they have time off which will provide opportunities for those around him. It’s about getting the mix of personalities right. It will discount some people but we want to make sure whoever does the job
‘England coach is world cricket’s most important job – we need to find someone who really wants it’
wants it, because it’s the most important job in world cricket.’
Giles may be tough, but he can compromise, as he has done in agreeing to let England carry on playing football as part of their pre-match routines after meetings with Joe Root and Morgan.
Giles said: ‘I will pray none of them get hurt. If something happens I will have to act, but they are sensible. Maybe being a lifelong QPR fan has given me a hard education in football!’
He calls the growing presence of England players at franchise competitions ‘my biggest concern’ while accepting the reasons for them wanting to take part and agreeing to ‘seek a balance’ between availability and the thorny issue of resting players. ‘It’s about being flexible,’ he says. ‘ Some people think of me as it’s my way or the highway but that isn’t me. It’s a modern world and we have to accept these competitions are here to stay, particularly the IPL. ‘If we tried to go for a hard policy of “you can do this but you can’t do that,” then we risk losing some of our best players.’ One of those players at this year’s IPL is Moeen Ali who, intriguingly, criticised Giles in his autobiography. But Moeen’s new boss insists there are no hard feelings. ‘I have the utmost respect for Mo,’ says Giles. ‘He apparently said I didn’t really speak to him when he was at Warwickshire which is strange because I remember saying before I got the job as coach, “speak to me before you go anywhere”. ‘But he left for Worcester and that was a shame for us because he’s a talented cricketer. There’s nothing wrong with our relationship. Everyone is entitled to their views and I’ve had a lot worse written about me!’
Meanwhile, the midnight curfew while on England duty, imposed by Strauss in the aftermath of the Ben Stokes Bristol incident and drinking at the start of the last Ashes tour, stays.
Giles says: ‘It’s not a means to treat players like kids, as much as to protect them. I have a firm side but I also have a caring one and we have a duty of care to players whether they’re 35 or 19.’
Giles has been a big success as a player and coach. But he may now have found his true vocation.
‘I regret in some ways saying I told my wife “I’ll be back” when I lost the one- day job because I didn’t want to express any bitterness,’ says Giles. ‘But that setback did start me heading in a different direction. Now I’m in a position of responsibility and, if something needs doing, I’ll do it and it won’t be rash, it will be considered.
‘Ultimately it reflects on me and my role because it is my responsibility.’ And it is a responsibility Ashley Giles is clearly relishing.