Best Indies

GILES CALLING ON STOKES & CO TO SET AN EXAMPLE

ASHLEY GILES claims he can trust Ben Stokes to behave himself in the West Indies and is confident none of his England players will step out of line on tour.

The new director of cricket wants Joe Root and his players to not only be the best in the world but also “the most respected”.

Giles, who has stepped into the role vacated by Andrew Strauss, aims to keep a close eye on team discipline as well as their performances.

The former Test spinner has seen the severe damage done by Steve Smith and

David Warner to the image and reputation of Australian cricket over ‘Sandpapergate’.

Root and his men have flown out for their

Test, ODI and T20 campaigns and Giles plans to join them for the second Test in Antigua later this month.

Stokes and West

Indies rival Marlon Samuels were involved in an on-field bust-up in Grenada four years ago and 2005 Ashes star

Giles said: “Ben is a maturing young man. We all make mistakes and I’m sure he has learned from his experiences.

“We still want guys to play cricket hard. We don’t want bland cricketers out on the field. What that line is can be hard to say sometimes.

“But I want us to play tough cricket out on the field. As much as I want us to be the best team in the world I want us to be the most respected, too, in terms of how we go about things.

“That’s going to be challenged because things are going to pop up that will probably go against that. Part of my role is to try to manage it.”

Giles took over from his former team-mate Strauss this week and is already looking forward to a summer Ashes series on home soil. But he is also aware of how the team come across to the public after a number of incidents over the past few years. Giles added: “There’s a long time before the Ashes start. The process of my role in consistently checking and challenging where we are and what the dressing room is doing is important.

“I can’t do that on my own either because I won’t be in a tracksuit in the dressing room. But we have a lot of very good people in there who I will rely on and tap into.

“How we play and how we’re viewed outwardly is really important to me. It’s how we are seen and respected.”

Giles is also confident captain Root will still be fresh and raring to go despite choosing to play in the Big Bash in between the tours of Sri Lanka and West Indies.

There have been suggestions that Root, who plays in all formats for his country, could suffer from burn-out.

But Giles said: “The welfare of players is always a concern but the experience for him to play in a different environment is a good one to take. I wasn’t involved in the discussions but they would have thought long and hard about it.

“I’m not saying the captaincy wears him down but perhaps the opportunity to play without having it on his shoulders would have been quite nice.

“I have watched a fair amount of the Big Bash and he did not have the success he would have wanted to.

“But just getting some T20 cricket action can only be beneficial whether it’s a good or bad experience. I’m sure he would have learned a lot.

“My job is to ensure the England team is successful but we also want happy players enjoying their cricket.

“And the modern cricketer is going to want to play in these tournaments around the world.

“From a developmental point of view he will be pretty good for them too.” TOP MAN: Ashley Giles