On being sacked as the England limited overs coach in 2014, Ashley Giles told his wife, Stine, he would one day return. Just under five years later he has come good on that promise, with the once-dubbed King of Spain making a regal return as the director of England cricket.
At Lord’s on Wednesday, following a brief introduction from the England and Wales Cricket Board’s lesser-spotted chief executive, Tom Harrison, Giles set out his intentions for the role, one which has come not at a time of crisis – as can often be the case for new supremos – but rather at the start of a year which brings with it two golden opportunities.
The to-do list is not sparse for Giles, especially given a new coach – or possibly coaches – must be hired by the end of the 2019 season after Trevor Bayliss moves on. He must also manage England’s centrally contracted players and support staff, and oversee the pathways, Loughborough and boost county relationships, all with a budget that has been trimmed to service the looming 100-ball tournament.
But with Eoin Morgan’s No 1-ranked one-day team favourites for the summer’s home World Cup, and Joe Root’s emerging Test side looking to regain the Ashes from an Australia team who are currently making the Conservative Party look cohesive, it is a case of augmenting the work of his predecessor, Andrew Strauss (who had to step down for family reasons), rather than initiating an overhaul.
“I certainly don’t think there’s a need to come in like a bull in a china shop,” said Giles, before praising the work of Strauss. “I have to support the coaches and players and make sure there’s nothing down the line that will interfere with the direction we’re going in. There’s no guarantee that we will win the World Cup or the Ashes but my role is to give us the best possible chance. But there’s a balance between short term and looking down the line.”
That balance is something the 45-year-old admits he got wrong when previously with England. Having spent 18 months as one-day coach to the more powerful Test team director, Andy Flower, the Ashes whitewash in Australia and a shock defeat to the Netherlands in the 2014 World T20 prompted Paul Downton, then in Giles’s current role, to stand him down and unify the roles.
“I always had in mind I would one day do Andy’s job and perhaps, if I hold my hand up, I took my eye off the short term and winning tomorrow,” Giles said. “I said at the time that [returning with England] was a goal of mine. I don’t know if I said it to Paul, I certainly said it to my wife. But bitterness doesn’t drive me.”
Having gone away and bulked up his CV at Lancashire and Warwickshire – as well as undertaken a masters in sports directorship at Manchester Met – his experience has not put Giles off splitting the coaches by way of format once more.
With a World Test Championship starting – the Ashes will be its first series – and back-to-back Twenty20 World Cups in 2020 and 2021, there will be few fixtures of reduced importance and thus it brings a sardine tin of a schedule.
“We’ll look at everything,” Giles replied, when asked if two coaches is the way forward. “The benefits of two coaches are clearly the workload, enabling people to focus on one form. When we first split it, Andy and me, we thought the paths of players might go similarly. But they have actually come together more – we have players who are adaptable.
“The other bit to consider is team culture – with different leaders you have different cultures. That was certainly the case with me and Andy. It doesn’t make either wrong, we are just different people, so lead differently. And if you have different leaders but the same players in the room, that can have its own challenge.”
Until that decision, Giles said he must ensure nothing “derails” two well-functioning teams. Though relatively minor, his own belief that the popular football warm-ups are not worth the risk – see Jonny Bairstow’s twisted ankle in Sri Lanka last October – will not force a change of policy right away.
“I don’t want to be blamed for losing the World Cup because we are not playing football,” Giles said. “If you look at what football does, the benefits from a psychological and fun point of view are outstripped by the dangers. But we will discuss that. I am not coming in with an iron rod right now.
The midnight curfew for players post the 2017 Bristol incident and some Ashes misdemeanours also looks set to remain. “I don’t think we should look at curfews as being a negative thing,” Giles said. “We have got a responsibility to protect our players; a duty of care to them. And the discipline side of things is really important to me.
“Not everyone will like the way I manage but you can’t please everyone. Some guys will have enjoyed the way I manage but you have to have difficult conversations with people at times. That’s something I’ve never been afraid of. And I’m aware that at times that’s cost me relationships. But my responsibility is to the teams, to England, to make sure we are successful and going the right way.”
