Giles: 'England have to be ruthless'

Date released: 12 February 2009

• Listen to part two of our exclusive interview (2.6 MB)

England selector Ashley Giles Speaking exclusively to Lords.org, England selector Ashley Giles talks about the England captaincy; The Ashes and more.

Pietersen v Moores

"I think it was disappointing it all came out the way it did.

"You had two guys trying to do a good job for English cricket and both of them lost their job.

"But these breakdowns happen and it's now how we move on.

"Strassy [Andrew Strauss] is now at the helm and it's important the team bonds again ahead of the summer.

"You need players to take responsibility. A coach's job, for me, is to arm a player, to empower him to do the job himself, not to fear failure and to do his best for the team.

"A head coach's role is managaging his players as much as anything. Mentally, getting them in the right place, creating the right atmosphere, creating the right behaviours amongst the team and the right work ethic.

"The players need to think for themselves as well because under pressure in the middle there isn't a coach to turn to. They have to know how to react and to react cooly and calmly."

Selector's poser

Giles went on to explain how future England stars are spotted and who he's had his eye on lately:

"Geoff Miller, the chairman of selectors will call me and say 'I want you to go and watch this player' or watch this game.

"Otherwise we meet regular and discuss, obviously the current England players and guys that I or the other selectors have seen.

Watched man: Middlesex's Dawid Malan "Even with Warwickshire in the second division last season I saw some very talented cricketers that we came up against: the likes of [Steve] Wagh at Worcester who's now involved in the England programme this winter.

"Dawid Malan who came through with Middlesex; even someone like [Jonathan] Trott at Warwickshire and Chris Woakes who've been in the training academy in Florida with England this winter.

The Ashes

With England in a state of flux after Pietersen and Moores' departures; and Australia still adjusting to loss of so many experienced players, conversation turned to The Ashes:

"I don't know who's in a better position ahead of The Ashes. I do know momentum is crucial leading up to it.

"I know it sounds like one of those coach words 'momentum' - but it is crucially important, that confidence you take into an Ashes Series.

"It doesn't matter how the Aussies are playing, you've got to get some evidence behind you to say we're playing well and we can take them on.

"That's what we had in 2005. We need to try and win every Test match that comes ahead of us.

"We have to concentrate on what we're doing. If we're doing what we do really well there is no reason why we can't win The Ashes.

"But we shouldn't even think about underestimating the Australians when they hit these shores.

"There's one thing for sure - when they come to England it brings the best out of them.

"In 2005 we were ruthless. We were all over them from the first Test.

Together: England's 'togetherness' was key to 2005 Ashes win "I've spoken to Justin Langer about it since and he said they couldn't believe how tight we were as a team, how on top of them we were.

"We have to regain that, we have to be tight in the dressing room - everyone has to play for each other.

"You don't always have to get on, not everyone does in a cricket team but when it comes to winning games, you have to be tight.

"I hope this summer can be a new crop of English Ashes winners and eventually we can go on to win them in Australia and become the best team in the world."