Ashley Giles calls for systemic changes after Ashes debacle

Ashley Giles

Apologising for the Ashes defeat Down Under, ECB managing director Ashley Giles has called for systematic changes in English cricket, but stressed that mass sacking is not the solution for the team's recent struggles in Test cricket. England trail the ongoing five-match Ashes series 0-3. The visitors were completely outplayed in the first three games. "I absolutely feel the responsibility of losing this Ashes series," Giles told BBC Sport.

"We all do and we can only apologise. I know there will be a lot of emotion, a lot of anger about how we've lost it. But we know it's not an easy place to come. In the last 34 years we've come here and won once [in 2010-11]. "We've not done well in terms of results. In the 1990s [a similar record] was accepted as normal for England leadership and they got away with it. We set our standards much higher than that," he added. The defeat has led to speculations regarding the future of Test skipper Joe Root and head coach Chris Silverwood, while Giles role is also under the scanner.

But the former England spinner feels changing leadership without addressing systematic shortcomings will not help English cricket. "Unless we look at more systemic change, a collective responsibility, and collective solutions, we can't make whatever changes we want. "You can change me, we can change the head coach and change the captain, but we're only setting up future leaders for failure. That's all we do. It's only pushing it down the road," he said.

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