Ashley Giles

Ashley Fraser Giles (born in Chertsey, Surrey, on 19 March, 1973) is an English cricketer who plays Test cricket for the England cricket team and county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club.

Related Topics:
Chertsey - Surrey - 19 March - 1973 - English - Cricket - Test cricket - England cricket team - County cricket - Warwickshire County Cricket Club

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Giles is 6'4" tall.

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Giles began as a fast bowler, but an early injury forced him to become a left-arm orthodox spinner (turning the ball away from right-handed batsmen, like a leg spinner). His ability to get the ball to turn has been criticised, but he is accurate and shows good variation. Since 2000/1, he has been England's first-choice slow bowler. He is also a useful tail-end batsman: he has scored three first-class centuries, but his Test average is around 20 and he has scored only four Test fifties.

Related Topics:
Fast bowler - Left-arm orthodox spin - Leg spin - Batsman - First-class

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Until 2004, his most successful bowling has been in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In July 2004, he took 9-210 in the first Test at Lord's (including his 100th Test wicket, Brian Lara) and 9-122 in the second Test at Edgbaston, and was instrumental in England beating West Indies twice. In that series he gained the nickname "King Of Spain", after a set of mugs ordered for his testimonial year had been erroneously printed with that slogan, instead of "King Of Spin"{{ref|kingofspin}}. He was, until that successful run of form, also much derided by commentators: the BBC's Test Match Special commentator Henry Blofeld famously labelled him a "Wheelie Bin" because of his trundling run-up, much to Giles's disgust.

Related Topics:
Pakistan - Sri Lanka - Lord's - Brian Lara - Edgbaston - West Indies - BBC's - Test Match Special - Henry Blofeld

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In 2005, he was named as one of five cricketers of the year by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack. In the 2005 Ashes series, Giles captured the wickets of all of the top Australian batsmen at least once during the series, hit the winning runs in the fourth test at Trent Bridge to give England a 2-1 lead, and contributed a test best 59 runs and a century partnership with Kevin Pietersen to ensure the draw in the final test at The Oval and a 2-1 series victory. However, his ten wickets in the series came at a relatively high average of 57.80.

Related Topics:
Wisden Cricketer's Almanack - The 2005 Ashes series - Trent Bridge - Kevin Pietersen - The Oval - Average

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