Giles returns home and will miss rest of series
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Your support makes all the difference.Ashley Giles has decided to return to England to recover from the fractured wrist he suffered practising in Adelaide just two days before the second Test against Australia, which was due to start last night. Giles, England's left-arm spinner, was hit while batting against the Durham pace bowler Stephen Harmison on Tuesday and is not expected to play for six weeks.
It thus seems inevitable that the Warwickshire spinner will miss the rest of this Ashes series. He becomes the third member of the original squad – after Simon Jones and Darren Gough – to be sent home.
Giles's departure is a huge blow to the England captain, Nasser Hussain, who has been reliant on the spinner to bring some control to the game when his side have been struggling in the field. His injury means that England have lost three of their front-line bowlers before the second Test of the most demanding series of them all. As a member of England's one-day side, the 29-year-old will probably return "down under" in January, after the Ashes series is over, to take part in the final one-dayers against Australia and Sri Lanka.
"I am very down about things at the moment," said Giles. "But I am looking forward to seeing my wife and children again and it is that that keeps me smiling. I will miss being here. You do not get many chances of playing in an Ashes series here, but it would have been harder to have stayed here just working on my fitness and training. I can do all the training back at home."
Talking specifically about the unfortunate incident that led to his departure, Giles mentioned that it was due to his protective arm guard not being as big as he would have liked.
"I became aware there was a small gap between my gloves and the guard only the other day," he said. "I only ordered a new one yesterday morning, they measured me up and it arrived today."
Such bad luck is typical of what has been happening to England since they arrived in Australia – not that the Australian captain, Steve Waugh, showed much sympathy for the Poms' plight.
"They picked some guys in the first place who were unfit, so I guess in some way they have made their own bed," Waugh said. "It is unfortunate that a guy breaks a wrist at training, but if you pick blokes who are unfit at the start of a tour you are taking a gamble."
Talking about Australia's approach, he went on to say: "To play for Australia, guys have got to be very close to 100 per cent to play. Even with minor niggles people have been pulled out to make sure they are right in the long term."
John Crawley has to convince the selectors he has recovered from a blow on his hip bone if he is to play in Adelaide. Robert Key is eagerly waiting in the wings.
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