Ashley Giles

Ashley Fraser Giles (born 19 March 1973) is a former English first-class cricketer, who played 54 Test matches and 62 One Day Internationals for England before being forced to retire due to a recurring hip injury.

Giles played the entirety of his 14-year first-class career at Warwickshire County Cricket Club.

Giles started his career as a fast bowler before an early injury forced him to become a slow left-arm spinner.

Giles advanced through the county age-groups, and toured Barbados with Surrey Young Cricketers in 1990/91.

While at Guildford, an injury forced Giles to try bowling spin, which brought him some success.

Giles made his debut for the Surrey Second XI in 1990, and was named Surrey Young Cricketer of the Year in 1991.

The following season, he played one further match for Surrey but they were unable to offer him a professional contract.

After an initial trial with Dennis Amiss, Giles was awarded a one-year contract with Warwickshire County Cricket Club.

Between 1992 and 1995, Giles played the majority of his games for Warwickshire Second XI, scoring over 2,500 runs and taking 165 wickets in this period.

Giles played winter cricket in South Africa for Vredenberg & Saldanha (1992–95) and Avendale (1995–96).

He made his first-class debut for Warwickshire in 1993, but it was 1996 when he gained a regular place in the side, winning the NBC Denis Compton Award for being 'The Most Promising Young Player' at the club.

He made his first-class debut for Warwickshire against Kent in May 1993; his second match was against Durham later that season.

In September 1993, he made his List A debut against the touring Zimbabweans, his first wicket being that of Grant Flower, although it would not be until the tail-end of the 1995 season before Giles began to cement his place in the Warwickshire side taking 16 wickets at an average of 22.12 (in 6 matches).

In 1996 Giles won the NBC Denis Compton Award, and before his debut for the full national side in 1998 he toured Australia, Sri Lanka and Kenya with the England A team.

Giles was awarded his One Day International debut against Australia in May 1997, and 36 wickets in the 1998 season led to his first Test match against South Africa, although it would be a further two years before he would play another Test for England.

He did not have the most fluent bowling action and was unable to turn the ball a huge amount, although at 6 ft, he was able to use his height to extract plenty of bounce.

On 2 July 1998, Giles made his Test debut against South Africa, and took 1 for 106 in 36 overs.

He then went on to tour Australia in the One Day squad.

On 31 December, it was announced that Giles was to step out of the One Day match between the ODI squad and the Bradman XI, and into the Test squad for the final Test match in Sydney.

He was chosen in light of Australia's selection of Shane Warne, Colin Miller and Stuart MacGill, England captain Alec Stewart stating that the selection of Giles gave England another option.

Between November 2000 and the emergence of Monty Panesar in 2006 (during his first prolonged injury lay-off), Giles was England's first-choice spin bowler, although he was constantly having to justify his selection.

Giles took part in England's 2000—01 tour of Pakistan, establishing himself as "England's No. 1 slow bowler."

He suffered an achilles tendon injury in February which affected his bowling, conceding 83 runs from his 19 overs, with Duncan Fletcher citing the injury as the cause of this.

Giles returned, however, to take part in the Test matches.

The press at the time suggested that Giles was to match Muttiah Muralitharan in wicket taking, but he dismissed this idea.

His tendon injury recurred in April, however, and was rested for six weeks.

Giles then impressed during India's tour of England in the winter of 2001.

In Domestic Cricket, Giles scored 96 from 139 balls for Warwickshire against Middlesex, as well as taking the wicket of Andrew Strauss.

He went on to take three more wickets as Middlesex reeled.

This came to a head in 2004 when Giles considered retirement before a match-winning 9-wicket haul against the West Indies gave him the confidence to perform at the highest level.

Following his playing career Giles has had spells as white-ball Head Coach and Director of Cricket with England, as well as holding similar roles as county level with Warwickshire and Lancashire.

In 2023 he joined Worcestershire County Cricket Club as chief executive.

Ashley Giles spent his early years living in Woking, attending the Kingfield First and Middle Schools.

Giles benefited from a cricket-loving teacher, and became involved with District and County Cricket at Under-9 level.

After his parents moved to Ripley, Surrey, he attended the George Abbot School in Guildford, completing his GCSEs and A-levels.

The Giles family was heavily involved with Ripley Cricket Club: Ashley's father, brother Andrew, cousins and uncles all played for the club, as did both paternal and maternal grandfathers previously.

Giles soon moved into the Saturday 2nd XI, opening the bowling with close friend Ian Ward.

At this stage, both players were aspiring fast bowlers, and a deadly force for Surrey Under-19s.

Giles moved to Guildford Cricket Club, working under coach Brian Ruby alongside future professionals Darren and Martin Bicknell.

As a right-handed batsman, Giles scored three first-class centuries, but his highest international score was only 59, an innings that helped England win The Ashes in 2005.