Ashley Giles explains England's need to rest senior players and blood youngsters
By Rob Barnett
Ashley Giles admits it would be asking a lot to give Jamie Overton or Chris Jordan an international debut versus Australia, but stresses he would do so because he they are good enough.
Seamers Overton, 19, and Jordan, 24, could come in for the third NatWest Series one-day international at Edgbaston tomorrow, or later during the five-game rubber that England trail 1-0 in.
The youngsters are in the squad with a view to trying them out ahead of the 2015 World Cup, and while Stuart Broad plus James Anderson are rested and Tim Bresnan is injured.
“You don’t get ready-made replacements for Broad, Bresnan, Anderson. So again the exposure is crucial,” limited-overs head coach Giles said.
“It’s hard on these young guys at times because we’re asking them to do a lot, but we’re asking them to do it because we believe they can.
“And if this exposure goes the right way, we’ve got a much greater pool of players for 2015 because we just never know what’s round the corner, whether it be injury, retirements in some cases, so we have to be prepared for everything.”
Having seen them in county action, Giles has had over a week now to work with Somerset’s Overton and Sussex’s Jordan in training.
“Already having them around the group is really beneficial to us, me as the head coach, obviously David Saker as a bowling coach and to them surely for the experience?” he added.
“Overton’s raw, he’s got pace, he’s aggressive, fits with our profile of big, tall, nasty fast bowlers.
“Jordan’s also been very impressive. He bowls good lengths, can bat, fields everywhere. I’m building him up into being a superstar already, which I don’t mean to do for him, but they’re two very promising young cricketers coming through the ranks.
“We had to rest some of our senior bowlers this series with back-to-back Ashes and it’s a great opportunity to look at these young guys.”
While Overton and Jordan are yet to get a game in the NatWest Series, or in the victory over Ireland that preceded it, Michael Carberry, previously uncapped in one-day internationals, is opening the batting alongside Keven Pietersen while regular pair Alastair Cook and Ian Bell rest.
Giles said: “It’s a very exciting side to come watch play still: Kevin Pietersen, Michael Carberry’s a very exciting batter at the top of the order, inexperienced again, then you go (Jonathan) Trott, (Joe) Root, (Eoin) Morgan. (Ravi) Bopara, (Jos) Buttler. That’s some good names to come and watch - (Steven) Finn - and then you’ve got the youngsters.
“I hope the cricketing public will also want to see us bring through some of our young cricketers and expose them to what is almost the harshest of environments, playing Australia.”
Adam Voges is among the Australia side - ranked second a place ahead of England - aiming to double the lead they built with an 88-run win at Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday after Friday’s washout at Headingley.
Voges played in the tourists’ two ODIs at Edgbaston during June’s Champions Trophy, a 48-run loss to England and a no-result with New Zealand that led to Australia failing to progress from Group A.
“Hopefully the weather holds off for us tomorrow,” he said in mind of the mixed forecast for the day/nighter.
“We didn’t have quite the Champions Trophy campaign that we would have liked to have, particularly the game here against England we didn’t play well at all, but I thought we were better against New Zealand until the weather came.
“As I said before, tomorrow is just a real opportunity for us. We’ve played really well in this first game and hopefully we can take that into tomorrow and really apply some pressure on England.”