Ashley Giles is set to be named the new director of England cricket. The former left-arm spinner is understood to have been offered the role and is now in the final stages of negotiations over terms.
The appointment, which should be confirmed in the coming days, will bring to an end a two-month search for a successor to Andrew Strauss, who stepped down in October after three years in the role as his wife, Ruth, undergoes treatment for cancer.
Giles, the sporting director at Warwickshire, has emerged from the second round of interviews this week as the preferred candidate and his tenure is now expected to begin when the Test side tours the Caribbean in January. Strauss, who will continue to work for the ECB on an ad hoc consultancy basis, was on the interview panel.
It marks a comeback of sorts for the 45-year-old, albeit in higher position, after he was stood down as one-day coach at the end of the torrid 2013-14 winter. That move was prompted chiefly by the 5-0 Ashes whitewash inflicted on the Test team and a desire by Paul Downton, Strauss’s predecessor, to unify the head coach position.
Andy Flower, who was the Test team director at the time, has worked for the England and Wales Cricket Board ever since – most recently as a stand-in for Strauss while he took time out from the position – and it now remains to be seen whether a role remains for the Zimbabwean when Giles is appointed.
The England role has been set up well by Strauss – not least when looking ahead to next summer’s World Cup and home Ashes campaign. Joe Root’s Test side has recently risen to No 2 in the world, while the No 1-ranked one-day team, led by Eoin Morgan, will head into the 50-over tournament as favourites following three trailblazing years.
Giles will be required to appoint a new head coach in his first year in the the job, with Trevor Bayliss having already confirmed he will not be seeking a contract extension beyond the end of the 2019 home season. Paul Farbrace, his assistant, is also expected to step down at the same time.
Giles will oversee the entire men’s pathway – from the Loughborough academy and the Lions through to the national teams – and despite the ECB securing a £1.1bn broadcast deal from 2020-23, he will need to manage a reduced budget as funds are directed towards the creation of the controversial new 100-ball tournament.
As well as knowing the demands of international cricket from a career that brought 143 Test wickets from 54 caps between 1998 and 2006 – as well as 62 one-day international appearances – Giles has not rested on his reputation, having furthered his off-field experience by studying for a Masters in sports directorship at Manchester Met University.
With Surrey’s title-winning director of cricket, Alec Stewart, not applying for the role and Leicestershire’s chief executive, Wasim Khan, recruited by Pakistan in recent weeks, Giles became the obvious candidate given a wealth of relevant experience both at county level and as a former England selector.
The latter coincided with the back end of his first spell in charge of Warwickshire – a five-year tenure that brought with it the 2012 County Championship title. He then stepped up as England’s one-day coach for an 18-month period in which the team reached the 2013 Champions Trophy final, before returning to county cricket at Lancashire where further domestic success followed.
Securing promotion and the T20 Blast title for the Red Rose in 2015 – his first season in charge – he returned to Warwickshire two years later when, amid a desire to return to the Midlands for family reasons, the club bought him out of his contract at Old Trafford.
He will doubtless leave Edgbaston for the second time with a heavy heart and a sense of unfinished business. An ageing side was relegated from Division One in 2017 before bouncing back at the first attempt, with Giles midway through an overhaul of the first-team squad at the club where he spent his entire 13-year playing career.
