LONDON, July 26: England captain Michael Vaughan praised the performance Monday of Ashley Giles after the left-arm spinner's nine-wicket haul in the 210-run first Test win against the West Indies at Lord's.
Giles, in the process, also captured his 100th Test wicket when he bowled West Indies captain for 44 with a dream delivery that spun sharply through the gap between the master left-hander's bat and pad.
Vaughan paid tribute to his bowlers for dismissing the West Indies twice on a batsman-friendly surface. "I batted on that wicket. I realised how flat it was. I knew how hard it was going to be to get 20 wickets against a good West Indies batting line up," Vaughan told reporters.
"Full credit to Ashley Giles for putting them under pressure. He's proven over the last couple of years when he gets the conditions that warrant him he gets wickets. "If you look at Giles's record he's played in 37 Tests and over half of them have been victories. You must be doing something right of that's the case.
"He's still our most lethal spinning option." Giles, who rediscovered his form with four for 46 in England's victorious third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, last month, was understandably proud.
His Monday return meant his name would be inscribed on the Lord's honours board in the players' dressing rooms that honour all those who have taken five wickets in an innings during a Lord's Test as well as score a hundred.
"It's great. All us bowlers are dying to get on that board. There's not been too many of late. There's been plenty of hundreds going up there. It's something we all dream of and I'm chuffed to pieces."
Giles was reduced to a bit-part role during England's 3-0 Test series win in the Caribbean earlier this year where the fast bowlers, led by Stephen Harmison, did most damage.
This, combined with ongoing media criticism of his practice of bowling defensively over the wicket at right-handers, started to eat away at Giles's then fragile confidence.
But on a wearing pitch, with rough to exploit outside the off-stump of several left-handers in the Windies top order who had the unusual experience of trying to combat a ball turning into them rather than away, Giles found himself a key member of the attack.
"A lot's been said about my confidence and my form in the last couple of months. I felt confident, I felt my mechanics were very good and the wicket offered some turn from the rough," Giles explained.
Meanwhile Lara praised his team-mate Shivnarine Chanderpaul who batted for over 10 hours in the match and was not dimissed in making scores of 128 not out and 97 not out.
"Chanderpaul was amazing, his performance was excellent, a joy to see," said Lara of his fellow-left-hander. And of Giles, Lara said: "There was rough but you've still got to put the ball in the right areas. He bowled really well." -AFP
