subject: Ashley Giles Emerges As Favourite For England Job [print this page] Former England spinner Ashley Giles has emerged as the man most likely to benefit from the cricket power struggle between national captain Kevin Pietersen and Coach Peter Moores.
Pietersen's already-strained relationship with Moores reached breaking point in India before Christmas where England suffered a 5-0 series whitewash in the one-dayers followed by defeat in the two-Test series.
Pietersen has now called for crisis talks with Hugh Morris, the England and Wales Cricket Board's managing director of England Cricket, ahead of the tour of the West Indies which gets underway on January 21.
Though Morris will attempt to broker a deal between Pietersen and Moores it seems increasingly likely that Moores might lose his job leaving England to find a caretaker/coach for the Caribbean.
Ashley Giles, now director of cricket at Warwickshire, emerged over the weekend as a strong contender for the job and he is well-placed to step into the breach.
Despite limited coaching experience - Giles only took charge of Warwickshire in September 2007 - he is well-respected in the England dressing room having been a member of the side that won the Ashes four years ago.
Giles is also a friend of Pietersen's and attended his wedding in 2007. He was also appointed one of England two part-time selectors last year and accompanied England to India for last month's Test series. He was also manager of the England side that won the Hong Kong International Sixes in Kowloon in November.
Ashley Giles has declined to make any public comment on the reports linking him with the England job, aware that he might yet be asked to help decide on Moores' future.
But in a recent interview with 'The Wisden Cricketer' magazine, Giles made it clear that he does have ambitions to coach at international level.
"As a player I got the best out of what ability I had. As a coach I want to do the same," he said.
"I want to be the best I possibly can be. I guess that means that one day I would want to coach internationally if that's what is considered to be the highest level."
Giles might now get that opportunity earlier than expected and Warwickshire, who encouraged those ambitions by allowing Giles to become an England selector, are unlikely to stand in his way even though it might leave them without their playing supreme in the build-up to the new season.
England cricket selector Ashley Giles believes that Ian Bell needs to develop a nasty side to his character if he is finally to make the breakthrough at Test level.
