• England Cricket

Giles proposes rotation policy for England

ESPN staff
April 8, 2011
Ashley Giles, the former England spinner, is working as a national team selector © PA Photos
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Ashley Giles has warned that the demands of the international schedule may prevent England from fielding their strongest XI regularly.

Fatigue has been cited for England's underwhelming performance at the World Cup, where they exited against Sri Lanka in the quarter-final, having lost to Ireland and Bangladesh in the group stage.

The tournament came immediately after England had been involved in a gruelling tour of Australia, leading the schedulers to come in for heavy criticism from players and coaches.

Now Giles, an England selector, has proposed a rotation system if the frequency of fixtures does not ease up. "There's no doubt the guys are tired," Giles told the Daily Star. "They have played a lot of cricket. I think they were home for three days (between the tour of Australia and the World Cup) in five-and-a-half months and it's not enough really.

"They were always going to be struggling and falling apart by the time of the World Cup. It would have been an amazing effort to win that as well as the Ashes. We want to see the best players out there on the park.

"But there might be a situation where we are going to have to think about rotating guys, giving them a break and doing more strength and conditioning programmes to keep them up pace so their bodies don't fatigue too much."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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