SAVE OUR STARS

Giles wants to rest players to stop burn-out

Ashley Giles has warned england will have to rest players, or risk losing them to franchise cricket and burn-out.

england’s team director believes the launch of the World Test Championship, beginning with the biggest series of them all this week, will protect the ultimate form of the game.

But the 2005 Ashes hero concedes there is little he can do to ease a schedule that saw england’s World Cup winners rushed with unseemly haste into last week’s inaugural Test against ireland and now face Test cricket’s toughest series, the Ashes.

‘it’s a good idea,’ said Giles of this attempt at context for Test series. ‘None of us really knows what the landscape will look like in 10 years, but we do know Test cricket is under more and more pressure.

‘To the guys who play it, it’s still the most important thing and we’re seeing people like Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer desperate to be involved in Test cricket. That’s a good thing and we have to make sure that remains the case.’

The problem is that something must give in a calendar jam-packed with cricket at a time when england bosses have conceded they can do little to stop the best players from cashing in on the indian Premier league and other Twenty20 leagues. ‘There are other pressures,’ said Giles, back on his old ground, edgbaston. ‘There’s money and TV and the better cricket gets, the more people want to watch it, so we’ve got to play. We also have more home cricket than any other nation.

‘it’s a tricky balance and puts more focus on how we care for players and make sure we don’t get burn-out.

‘Against ireland, we did rest a couple because they play in the iPl. it’s a very different environment now and we have to be flexible or we’re going to lose them.’

Giles hinted top players could be rested for the autumn tour of New Zealand, which will not count towards the Test Championship as it was arranged before the fixture list was drawn up. in that series england will almost certainly be led by a caretaker coach, before the appointment of a successor to Trevor Bayliss. Bowling coach Chris silverwood is the hot favourite for an interim role at the top.

‘i’ve already had conversations with possible successors to Trevor but it’s been very relaxed over a coffee or on the phone,’ said Giles. ‘it’s important to have less noise and chatter around the head coach position now, even if it means someone babysitting in New Zealand.

‘i think Trevor’s done, and i mean that in the best possible way. he may seem horizontal from the outside but he cares a lot and he’s had sleepless nights this summer. he’s a good guy and he has done things the right way. hopefully he can hand over after winning the World Cup and the Ashes. That would be unprecedented.’