England left-arm spinner Ashley Giles believes his team is capable of defending the Ashes in Australia beginning next month.
NEW DELHI: England left-arm spinner Ashley Giles believes his team is capable of defending the Ashes in Australia beginning next month.
"I fancy our chances very highly, else I wouldn't have worked as hard as I've worked to get there," said the 33-year-old spinner, who has not played this year due to injury, but has been named in the squad for the Ashes defence.
"It's great to go to Australia with the Ashes urn in your hand. This is the biggest challenge I think any of us will face in cricket," Giles told reporters on Sunday.
Giles was an integral part of the side that won the Ashes 2-1 in England last year after 18 years of Australian domination with his accurate slow bowling and obdurate batting at number eight.
However, he remains the side's biggest fitness gamble in the squad after undergoing a series of operations on his hip that forced him out of the game for 10 months.
"I'm at the end of the hip injury and very confident that the rest of the winter is going to go fine," said Giles, who has accompanied the team to the Champions Trophy as part of his rehabilitation programme.
"Physically I'm in the best shape I've been in in a decade. I'm here to get as much cricket as I can" bowling in the nets, lots of batting and fielding and all the team stuff in preparation for the Ashes and the World Cup."
In Giles' absence, young left-arm spinner Monty Panesar quickly established himself with a series-winning display against visiting Pakistan, but the senior bowler does not look at Panesar as a rival for the spinner's slot.
"Monty has done fantastically well for the team. I'm going to Australia with him and I'll consider him a team mate and back him up all the way. One of us on occasions will play and one of us won't. Whoever that may be will just get on with it. "As spinners we are different, and that is why I believe strongly we can play together."
Giles said his team would use the Champions Trophy as preparation for the Ashes.
"We are going to try and get sharp, use the Champions Trophy as a good training ground for the Ashes, make sure the guys are fit going into the rest of the winter."
England open their Champions Trophy campaign against hosts India in Jaipur on Oct. 15.
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