16 Facts about Ashley Giles: The towering left arm spinner

Ashley Giles was England’s best slow bowler during the early 2000’s. Giles, who had one of the most fluent bowling action, began as a fast bowler initially but an injury at a young age forced him to turn into a spinner. He later enjoyed a great amount of success as a left arm orthodox. Giles worked his way through the age group and broke into the national team. However, injury again interfered with his career, eventually ending it.

1. Born on:

Ashley Fraser Giles was born March 19, 1973, Chertsey, Surrey

2. Introduction to cricket:

Giles benefited from a cricket-loving teacher and became involved with District and County Cricket at Under-9 level. After his parents moved to Ripley, Surrey, he attended the George Abbot School in Guildford, completing his GCSEs and A-levels. The Giles family was heavily involved with Ripley Cricket Club: Ashley’s father, brother Andrew, cousins and uncles all played for the club, as did both paternal and maternal grandfathers previously.

3. A paceman turned spinner:

Giles started his career as a fast bowler before an early injury forced him to become a slow left-arm spinner.

4. First class debut:

He made his first-class debut for Warwickshire in 1993. It took him a couple of years to cement his place in the team and it was in 1996 that he became a regular in the side.

5. Progress to the national team:

In 1996, Giles won the NBC Denis Compton Award for being the most promising young player in the club. Later, just before his England debut in 1998, he went on tours to Australia, Sri Lanka and Kenya with the England A team.

6. Test debut:

On 2 July 1998, Giles made his Test debut against South Africa, taking took 1 for 106 in 36 overs. By 2000/01 season, he had established himself as the best spinner in the England side.

7. Recurring injuries:

Giles was badly affected by injuries after he reached his prime. In the 2000/01 season, he suffered an Achilles injury in February which affected his bowling to great extent hurting his effectiveness. His tendon injury recurred in April and was forced to rest for six weeks. During the 2002 tour to Australia, Giles was forced to end his tour when Steve Harmison injured his wrist during nets practice.

8. Troublesome 2006:

Giles flew home from the 2006 Ashes tour of Australia on 1 December in order to care for his wife who had a brain tumor. In February 2006, the recurring hip injury forced Giles out of both the Test and ODI sections of England’s tour to India that year. Giles was could not play for the entire 2006 season.

9. Retirement:

On August 9, he officially announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, following advise from doctors in light of his injury.

10. Life after retirement:

Following his retirement, in September 2007, Giles became Warwickshire’s director of cricket, replacing Mark Greatbatch, ahead of Dermot Reeve.  In November two months later, Giles was named the official spin coach in the England Performance Programme.

11. England’s head coach:

On 28 November 2012, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed Ashley Giles would become England’s limited-overs Head Coach taking charge of the Twenty20 and One Day International teams.

12. Cricket analyst:

In April 2014 he departed from the Head Coach role, he spent his time as match analyst for ESPN. He also played in the Warwickshire Premier League for Nuneaton CC in return for a charitable donation

13. The mountain trekker:

Giles set a world record by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to play in the highest game of cricket ever played for charity.

14. Honors:

Giles resides in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire and was named as the ‘Honorary Citizen’ of the town by the mayor after the 2005 Ashes success. The award was created for him, as he did not meet the usual criteria to become a Freeman.

15. Order of British Empire:

Giles was awarded an MBE in the 2006 New Year Honours for his role in the successful Ashes-winning squad.

16. Personal Life:

He is married to the Norwegian Stine (née Osland), with whom he has two children, Anders Fraser and Matilde. He is a lifelong supporter of Queens Park Rangers F.C