New England cricket boss Ashley Giles has big decisions to make

New role: Ashley Giles
PA
Will Macpherson9 January 2019

Ashley Giles has been unveiled as Andrew Strauss’s replacement as managing director of England men’s cricket.

The former England spinner is the ultimate safe pair of hands who has had experience as a selector, coach and administrator at two counties and within the ECB. He has also written a dissertation on the governance of cricket’s domestic ruling body as part of a degree at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Giles takes over in tragic circumstances — Strauss’s wife Ruth passed away over Christmas.

He inherits a plum job in good shape, with hosts England favourites for this summer’s World Cup and Ashes. A summer of rare opportunity awaits.

Here’s what’s on Giles’s agenda for his first year in charge...

Find new coach(es)

Replacing head coach Trevor Bayliss is his most pressing task. Bayliss departs at the end of the Ashes and Giles must decide whether to replace him with one coach for all formats or two (Test and short formats). Bayliss will surely recommend the latter: it is a job that includes long tours that can see up to 300 nights a year away from home. Players specialise, why not coaches, too? Giles has strong insight, having been the white-ball coach (under Andy Flower) the last time the jobs were split. Nationality will not be important — Bayliss’s English assistant, Paul Farbrace, is unlikely to get the job — and the pay-packet will be hefty.

Balance the books

The ECB have frittered away almost £65million worth of reserves in two years, with the costs of The Hundred astronomical. The scrimping will hit Giles’s budget and he must be wise with how he funds England’s pathways.

Shift the white-ball focus to T20

Strauss and Bayliss made the World Cup a huge priority and managed to transform England’s ODI cricket. As soon as the World Cup ends, focus must shift to England’s T20 team. There is a T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020 and another due in India the following year. The new coach’s first tour, to New Zealand in December, reveals the change in direction: England play five T20s but no ODIs.

Bed in The Hundred

Giles is a ‘Hundredite’ and he will have a role in bringing the concept to life. He must work out how much the top players can be involved and how it will impact upon the rest of the domestic game. It is here that Giles will really need his political nous.

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