Ashley Giles, the director of cricket of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has laid out his vision for the team, saying he wants England to not only uphold their high performance standards, but also play in a spirit that earns them respect.
“We still want people to play cricket hard,” said Giles. “We don’t want bland cricket played out on the field. What is that line? It is hard sometimes to know what it is but I want us to play tough cricket on the pitch.
“But as much as I want us to be the best team in the world, I also want us to be the most respected team in the world over how we go about things. That is going to be challenged. There are going to be things that pop up that would go against that but it is part of my role to manage that.”
“I’ll have to speak to Ed [Smith]. And I’ll need to get some other opinions as well. I need to know what the coaches are thinking and the captains.
“It is a big year and it would be a bit tough on the lad to think he is going to be some sort of messiah coming into the team, but he is an exciting cricketer and his hat will be in the ring.
“His skills are good and it is a massive one-day year. At the same time we’ve got a group of players who’ve done a lot to get us to this point and have performed very well for England so competition for those final places is going to be strong.”
