Born on March 19, 1973, AF Giles aspired to become a fast bowler but ended up becoming a spinner instead. A man of limited ability, Giles made the most of his talents to rise up in the ranks and was the lead spinner for England during the historic Ashes triumph in 2005.

Ashley had to not only overcome his doubters, but also those who sneered at a man who could not spin the ball. An early injury forced Giles to give up his passion for fast bowling and forced him to become a slow left arm spinner. Bowling with a high left shoulder, Giles forced his way into the Warwickshire County in 1993 but had to wait until 1996 to make himself a regular. He won the NBC Denis Compton Award for being 'The Most Promising Young Player' at the club.

Impressive domestic form saw Giles debut against Australia at the Oval ODI in 1997. It was clear that he was not ready for the big occasion and Giles was promptly axed after the lone ODI. A Test debut though followed a year later against South Africa at Manchester and it followed the ODI way. Giles did have occasional chances in the ODI team but had to wait for a long time to cement his place in the team.

Despite not procuring spin, Giles used his gigantic frame to procure good bounce off the surface. It was not until 2000 that Giles was able to make an impression at the highest level. He snaffled 17 wickets on the tour of Pakistan to lead England to a historic series victory in Pakistan. He followed it up with match figures of 6/70 against Sri Lanka to help England complete a 2-1 series victory against the Asian giants.

Despite constant criticisms regarding his lack of ability to spin, Giles continued to remain the mainstay of the English spin attack under Nasser Hussain. On the tour of India in 2001, Giles frustrated the Indians with a defensive leg stump bowling. He scalped Sachin Tendulkar in the 90s in the Bangalore Test. It was the first occasion that Sachin had been stumped in Test cricket. Giles did have token successes such as a rich haul of 18 wickets in the 3-Test tour of Sri Lanka. It was the historic series against Australia in 2005 that gave fame to Giles. He ended up with only 10 wickets from the 5-Test series, but gave England the required breakthroughs at crucial times and chipped in with handy scores to frustrate Australia. He was given an honorary MBE for his efforts, something the entire England squad received. He was also named as one of the cricketer of the year, 2005 by Wisden.

The emergence of Monty Panesar meant Giles had to give up his slot for the 3rd Test of the following Ashes tour in 2006-07. Like in his Test career, Giles had limited success in ODIs. His best figures, 5/57 were achieved against India at Delhi winning England a tight match. Injuries also played a role in slowing down the career of Giles. A recurring hip injury forced him to miss a significant amount of cricket and later forced him to retire. Giles was one of the national selectors for the England team before becoming the Head Coach of England's limited overs teams, both T20Is and ODIs.


By Pradeep Krishnamurthy