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Coming back Giles hopes for better performance for England
LONDON (AP) -- Warwickshire's Ashley Giles, whose only performance in a test match was taking a miserable one for 106 against South Africa two years ago, on Sunday was given the spinner's role for the final test against the West Indies. With England 2-1 up in the series and hoping to beat the West Indies for the first time in 31 years, the selectors chose the 27-year-old slow left armer ahead of the veteran off-spinner Phil Tufnell and leg-break bowlers Chris Schofield and Ian Salisbury. Giles was added to the 11 who beat the West Indies inside two days at Headingley, bowling the tourists out for 61 in their second innings. Despite his unimpressive test figures, Giles has had a good summer in domestic competition, taking 52 county championship wickets at 23.07 apiece and also averaging 40.36 runs. His appearance in the squad for the final test at The Oval is likely to be followed on Monday with a place on the winter tour party for Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which is set to be announced at Lord's. "There is no doubt Ashley has improved as a player since the last time he played for England," chairman of selectors David Graveney said on Sunday. "It was a tough choice to make because there were other slow bowlers we considered, but Ashley has deserved his chance." Giles' selection in the squad puts pressure of Yorkshire allrounder Craig White despite his career best five for 57 on his home track at Headingley. Because England needs only a draw to clinch the series, it is likely to stick with its strong batting lineup with Graeme Hick, who normally bats three or four, coming in at seven. The West Indies, meanwhile, appear to be in total disarray, struggling for form with several players carrying injuries and confidence low. Losing the last test in two days was bad enough but the tourists were also beaten by a massive 269 runs at Somerset on Saturday. Coach Roger Harper, a former standout spinner for the West Indies, puts a lot of the problems down to too much cricket. "The guys had played a lot of cricket coming into this tour," he said. "Some of the guys have been going since New Zealand [last year] and had a couple of series back-to-back against Zimbabwe and Pakistan in the Caribbean and then flew straight into England. "This has been a long and tiring tour and we have picked up a few injuries and I think the guys are just waiting for it to end just to get a bit of a break. It's more mental than physical really." But he thinks the players will be motivated by the chance of squaring the series 2-2 at The Oval starting Thursday and maintaining its series streak of not losing to England since 1969. "I think they know how important this last test match is and everyone is ready to throw everything into those five days," he said. Veteran pacemen Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh return to the lineup for the test after being rested for the game against Somerset. But team captain Jimmy Adams is nursing a finger injury, Shivnarine Chanderpaul did not look comfortable against Somerset on his first game back since early June and fast bowlers Reon King and Franklyn Rose are still struggling with foot and ankle injuries. England squad - Nasser Hussain (Essex, captain), Michael Atherton (Lancashire), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset), Graham Thorpe (Surrey), Alec Stewart (Surrey, wicketkeeper), Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire, Graeme Hick (Worcestershire), Craig White (Yorkshire), Dominic Cork (Derbyshire), Andrew Caddick (Somerset), Darren Gough (Yorkshire), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire).
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