The new director of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Ashley Giles is eyeing to make 2019 very special for England cricket as he is targeting to win the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup and The Ashes 2019.
While England and Wales are going to host the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup between 30 May and 14 July, England will host The Ashes 2019 at next from 1 August to 16 September. Giles has set the target to conquer both the tournaments as he feels that this is the strongest England side ever.
Currently, England is leading the ODI rankings while they are just in their second position in the Test ranking.
When Giles was asked which one he wants to win this year between World Cup and Ashes, he replied to Sky Sports, “I’ll have both thanks. This year represents a great opportunity for us to do something really special but at the moment that’s all it is. The train is moving at a hell of a pace down the tracks for the World Cup but my role is to make sure we stay on track and there’s nothing there ahead of us that can derail us. We’ve probably never been in such a strong position to challenge for both.”
Recently, Giles has joined as the ECB director after Andrew Strauss has stepped down from that role. In the last month, Ruth Strauss, the wife of Andrew Strauss, died after fighting against the rare form of cancer. After that, Andrew stepped down from the ECB director role.
Talking about Strauss, Giles said, “Obviously, the circumstances of the position becoming available are not great at all. I honestly feel for Straussy and the family. But the opportunity for me was great heading into a really exciting year. Straussy has done a lot of good work. He redressed that balance between white ball (limited-overs) and red-ball cricket, which I think was important and of late we’ve started to see the Test team flourish as well.”
The former English spin-bowling all-rounder Ashley Giles was the head coach England national cricket team between 2012 and 2014. His coaching journey for the national team ended after the 2014 ICC World T20 where England suffered a humiliating defeat against the Netherlands. However, Giles was confident enough to return to the national duty.
He said, “I think I actually said at the time, I’d come back and do this job, perhaps a bit flippantly. I’ve always been driven to work at the highest level and test myself as much as I can. I’m fully aware of the pressure that can come but 2014 was a long time ago.”
After the end of the 2019 season, England national team head coach Trevor Bayliss will finish his term. Since then Giles will have to find out the proper replacement for that important role and he is open-minded to find out two different coaches for the Test and limited-overs cricket, despite knowing the issues as he faced it during his own term.
Giles said, “The benefits of two coaches are clearly (sharing) the workload. The disadvantages are two different voices. I think we always imagined when Andy and I took the roles on that we’d see two different squads developing. We are actually seeing those squads come together now.”
Giles also spoke about the English all-rounder Ben Stokes, who has been acquitted from the affray charges that happened in late 2017 outside a Bristol nightclub. However, he has been faced with suspension and fined by the Cricket Disciplinary Commission (CDC).
Talking about Stokes’ behaviour, Giles said, “I have a reputation for being a bit of disciplinarian but you also have to accept these guys are human and are going to make mistakes. Everyone needs boundaries, guys need to know where they stand and what’s right and wrong.
“It’s important to me, how we look to our supporters and how we are respected. It’s almost as important as actually winning. A big part for me is us being the best and most respected team in the world.”
