Ashley Giles

Ashley Giles

Personal information
Full name	Ashley Fraser Giles
Born	(1973-03-19) 19 March 1973 (age 51) Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK
Nickname	Gilo, Skinny, Skinny Dipper, Splash, King of Spain,[1] The Wheelie Bin
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Slow left arm orthodox
Role	All rounder
International information
National side	England (1997–2006)
Test debut (cap 590)	2 July 1998 v South Africa
Last Test	1 December 2006 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 145)	24 May 1997 v Australia
Last ODI	12 July 2005 v Australia
ODI shirt no.	29
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1993–2006	Warwickshire
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 54 62 178 224 Runs scored 1,421 385 5,346 2,089 Batting average 20.89 17.50 26.33 20.89 100s/50s 0/4 0/0 3/22 1/5 Top score 59 41 128* 107 Balls bowled 12,180 2,856 37,304 9,729 Wickets 143 55 539 272 Bowling average 40.60 37.61 29.60 25.59 5 wickets in innings 5 1 26 3 10 wickets in match 0 0 3 0 Best bowling 5/57 5/57 8/90 5/21 Catches/stumpings 33/– 22/– 80/– 73/–
Source: CricketArchive, 24 August 2017

Ashley Fraser Giles MBE (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.^[2]

Giles started his career as a fast bowler before an early injury forced him to become a slow left-arm spinner.^[3] 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. 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 feet 4 inches (193 cm), he was able to use his height to extract plenty of bounce.^[3] 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. 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.^[3] 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.