Ashley Giles played 51 Tests for England before trying his luck in the coaching world. He briefly took over as the England T20 coach, before becoming an England selector and is currently the Director of Cricket at Warwickshire
Englands Ollie Pope hits past Indias wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik during the second Test at Lord�������¢����������������s in London last week. Pic/Getty Images
Former England spinner Ashley Giles believes it will be an enormous challenge for India to claw back into the series after the humiliating defeat at Lord-s. India trail England 0-2 in the five-Test series and Giles is of the opinion that the road will only get tougher for India. "India have some fantastic cricketers, but there were caught up in a perfect England storm. The conditions, pitch and the way England performed, everything went against India," he told mid-day from Birmingham.
"In a five-match Test series, it is going to be really difficult to get something positive out of this. One hopes that they can win a Test match and that will be good for them because they look so far behind England in this series. It is going to take a lot of effort to achieve that." Giles played 51 Tests for England before trying his luck in the coaching world. He briefly took over as the England T20 coach, before becoming an England selector and is currently the Director of Cricket at Warwickshire.
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Ashley Giles
"It [administration] is slightly different to being a coach. I-m rarely on the ground or wearing my tracksuit. My role is much more strategic, I oversee all cricket whether it is the pathway, development, women-s cricket and right to the professional teams. My responsibility is recruitment, retainment, contracts, and appraisals. Cricket is a big business now and there are plenty of divisions to take care of. I enjoy it."
One area that is a concern for England is the lack of spinners coming through the county ranks. Ever since the retirement of Graeme Swann as many as six spinners have been tried, but none have managed to hold on to their spot. "It-s always a constant topic of conversation. You look at our recent spinners — Swann was a generational spinner, players that have take 200 wickets don-t come along that often. Even if you look at Phil Tufnell, myself and a Monty Panesar, we got around 150 Test wickets, so that is just the way it has been in England.
"At Warwickshire and even the ECB has a terrific program to encourage and have a path for spinners. Pitches in this country right now probably offer more spin than ever before. Unfortunately, the county pitches don-t really allow them to get into the game, the seamers are into the game and the games move at a rapid pace, so it becomes difficult for the spinners to really settle or get into the game."
Three
No. of Test series India have won on English soil. They last emerged victorious in 2007
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