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Graeme Swann has insisted there was no bullying culture within the England dressing room as claimed by Kevin Pietersen

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Oct-2014

Graeme Swann has insisted there was no bullying culture within the England dressing room, as claimed by Kevin Pietersen in his autobiography, saying that the emotion shown on the field was because the players were involved in “international sport, not the Under-11s”.In his column for the , Swann said he never shouted at one of his own team-mates over a dropped catch. He acknowledged there was some truth to Pietersen’s claims that Jonathan Trott had reacted angrily during a match in Bangladesh on the 2010 tour although said Pietersen had “misinterpreted” the incident.Swann had already called Pietersen’s book a “work of fiction” and the various claims “codswallop” and did not hold back in further criticism.”There was absolutely no bullying. Sure, bowlers shout at fielders if they are out of position or not concentrating,” he said. “A bowler or wicketkeeper delivers a bit of a kick up the backside – just like a goalkeeper shouts at his centre-half. This is international sport, not the Under-11s.”If Kevin or other players can’t take a bollocking for being unprofessional, for being out of position or seemingly not trying, they are in the wrong business.”However, another version of events over how errors in the field were treated came from Ajmal Shahzad, the Nottinghamshire seamer, who played for England in 2010 and 2011 and recalled feeling under pressure to apologise for errors.”There were times when I misfielded balls, in the World Cup I dived over a ball [and] there were some senior players you just didn’t want to look at,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “You knew they were disappointed and [thought it was] a bit of a disgrace … what you’d done was really bad.”If you did something wrong it wasn’t looked kindly upon. It did feel quite bad. I remember misfielding [in Bangladesh] and didn’t want to look up because you knew you were going to get these hard looks, stern looks – and it did feel a little uncomfortable.”Time to move on – Giles

The former England coach Ashley Giles has said “everyone has to move on” amid the fallout from Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography.

Giles was close with Pietersen as a player – he gets a brief mention in the book when Pietersen writes about England’s buddy system in 2004: “My buddy was Ashley Giles. Again, still a mate.”

After the Ashes whitewash, with rumours swirling about Pietersen’s future, Giles called Pietersen a “million pound asset” although he would never have the chance to work alongside him again as coach.

“I played in the dressing room with Kev and got on very well with him, but similarly with those other guys as well,” Giles said in his first press conference as Lancashire’s new head coach. “I coached them, and I never had any major issues with any of them.

“He’d still consider himself a multi-million pound asset, I’m sure. He’s that sort of player, he’s the big show if you like. Things have unfolded, and he’s not going to play for England, by the looks of it, again. I’m sure it’s disappointing for him, and everyone has to move on.”

About the Trott incident in Bangladesh, Swann said it stemmed from a field placement and that Trott had misunderstood a signal from Matt Prior over whether he was able to dive for a ball. “So Trotty started screaming from the boundary, ‘F*** off, f*** off.’ There’s a bit of truth in the story Kevin tells but, really, he has misinterpreted it,” Swann said.Shahzad, meanwhile, added that there was often only one route to dealing with mistakes, and encouragement when things went wrong was in short supply. “There weren’t many times when someone would come up to you and say ‘don’t worry about it – that’s sport, you have ups and downs’. It was a tough environment.”Swann was also strong in condemning Pietersen’s comments about Prior, who came in for a sustained campaign in the book over his perceived role in causing dressing-room splits.”Matt is the most passionate bloke about protecting the team environment. He was the voice of the dressing room … Now Kevin has written a whole chapter assassinating him, even having a pop at him for taking his bike to New Zealand. Kevin’s attack on Matt is, dare I say it, a bit like bullying.”One of the more cryptic responses to the claims in Pietersen’s book has come from Chris Tremlett, who was part of the successful 2010-11 Ashes tour as well as the more recent whitewash. “Glad @KP24 has finally been able to give his side of the story. People can now make an informed opinion of what went on in the dressing room,” he posted on Twitter.

استأنف النادي الأهلي تدريباته مساء اليوم الأربعاء على ملعب التتش بالجزيرة، وذلك بعد انتهاء الراحة السلبية التي حصل عليها اللاعبون لمدة ٢٤ ساعة.

واجتمع مارسيل كولر المدير الفني باللاعبين قبل انطلاق فقرات المران، وذلك لتأكيد بعض الأمور الفنية والتدريبية، في إطار الاستعدادات لمباراة العودة أمام سانت جورج الإثيوبي في دوري أبطال إفريقيا.

اقرأ أيضًا.. موقف رضا سليم من مباراة الأهلي وسان جورج بعد إصابته في التدريبات

فيما قاد أندريس إندويا مخطط الأحمال مرانًا بدنيًّا مطولًا للاعبين على مجموعتين، الأولى في الجيم والثاني في الملعب.

كما أدى رباعي حراسة المرمى محمد الشناوي ومصطفى شوبير وحمزة علاء ومصطفى مخلوف تدريبات بدنية وفنية متنوعة، تحت إشراف ميشيل يانكون.

واختتم كولر فقرات المران بتقسيمة قوية على أربعة فرق، تم خلالها تنفيذ بعض التعليمات الفنية المحددة للاعبين.

ويستعد الأهلي لمواجهة فريق سانت جورج الإثيوبي في إياب دور الـ٣٢ لبطولة دوري أبطال إفريقيا، والمحدد لها السابعة مساء الجمعة المقبل على استاد القاهرة.

تمكن فريق يد الزمالك بقيادة المدرب أحمد رمضان “هتلر” من تحقيق فوز صعب على حساب أصحاب الجياد بنتيجة 25-26.

عانى الزمالك من فقدان قائمة طويلة من اللاعبين بسبب عدم القدرة على تسجيلهم نتيجة عدم دفع مديونيات النادي لدى اتحاد كرة اليد.

اقرأ أيضًا.. الزمالك: نعاني من أزمة في مشاركة اللاعبين بمباريات اليد.. وما يحدث كارثة كبيرة

انتهى الشوط الأول من اللقاء بتفوق الزمالك بنتيجة 13-12.

وفي الشوط الثاني كاد أصحاب الجياد أن يقتنص الفوز بنتيجة 22-21 لكن الزمالك عادل النتيجة في اللحظات الأخيرة لينتهي الشوط الثاني بنتيجة 22-22 ويتم اللجوء لرميات الترجيح التي انتهت بفوز الأبيض 26-25.

وكان الاتحاد المصري لكرة اليد قرر في الموسم الحالي اللجوء لرميات الترجيح في حال انتهاء الوقت الأصلي من المباريات بالتعادل.

N Srinivasan will attend the ICC executive board meeting, to be held in Dubai on April 9 and 10, in his capacity as a BCCI “representative”

Amol Karhadkar08-Apr-2014Despite having been sidelined from BCCI affairs following a Supreme Court directive, N Srinivasan will attend the ICC executive board meeting, to be held in Dubai on April 9 and 10, in his capacity as a BCCI “representative.” While BCCI interim president Shivlal Yadav said he has “no comment on this” and secretary Sanjay Patel didn’t respond to queries, a senior BCCI official confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Srinivasan “will attend the ICC Board meeting”.While splitting the BCCI presidency between Sunil Gavaskar (IPL affairs) and Yadav for other issues, the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court had declined to pass an order in relation to Srinivasan’s role in ICC affairs, saying it was an “internal” matter of the BCCI.In normal practice, the BCCI president is inducted onto the ICC board as a Director while the secretary attends the ICC Chief Executives Committee meetings. At every Annual General Meeting (AGM), it is the BCCI president who nominates the Board’s representative at ICC meetings. At the last BCCI held in Chennai on September 29, 2013, it is understood the issue of an ICC representative had been discussed and it was verbally decided that “Srinivasan will continue to be in the (ICC) executive board and Patel in the CEC.” The minutes of the AGM have, however, not yet been circulated among the BCCI members.Srinivasan’s position in the ICC, as one of its directors, can be questioned under various ICC regulations in the light of the Supreme Court observations and orders around the BCCI’s handling of the IPL 2013 corruption case. In theory, any member can raise questions pertaining to two clauses in the ICC’s constitution – firstly, Clause 2.1 of ICC’s code of ethics which states that “Directors shall not engage in any conduct that in any way denigrates the ICC or harms its public image.” Under clause 4.11 (F) of the ICC’s constitution, an ICC director can be removed as a member of the Executive Board by notice given to him and executed by not less than two thirds of the members of the Executive Board on any one of the following grounds:”(1) he is guilty of any dishonesty, gross misconduct or wilful neglect of duty (whether by act or omission); or (2) in the reasonable opinion of the Executive Board, he commits (whether by act or omission) any act which brings or would tend to bring the Council into disrepute; or (3) he conducts himself in a manner materially adverse to the interests of the Council.”The ICC has remained tightlipped over the issue ever since India’s Supreme Court directive had Srinivasan removed from his official position, repeatedly saying, it has “no comments at this stage.” Other than merely attending the meetings this week, Srinivasan’s involvement in the ICC extends towards taking over as its first chairman in June this year. Under the new ICC constitutional amendments to be made this June, “the initial chairman of the ICC… shall be the nominee on the ICC Board of the BCCI (or nominees of the BCCI if the original nominee is replaced by the BCCI as its nominee on the ICC Board during this period.”)The BCCI remains confident that not only have they acquired the apex court’s approval for Srinivasan to continue with his ICC responsibilities but also that there will be no protest from within the ICC Board itself towards the ICC chairmanship.An ECB spokesman said the issue of Srinivasan attending the meeting had, “nothing to do with us.” The terms of reference required for anyone to sit on the Board, he said, “is that they are a nomination from their home board. The ECB have no role to play in that decision. It is a matter for the BCCI who attends an ICC meeting.”Hours after the Supreme Court order, Patel had said that Srinivasan will remain BCCI’s representative at the ICC. Since then, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) has requested the ICC to sideline Srinivasan from the executive board and to not allow him to take over as the ICC chairman in July. “Serious allegations of betting and spot-fixing in IPL 2013 have been made against Mr Gurunath Meiyappan as the alleged team principal of Chennai Super Kings and these remain the subject of proceedings before the Indian Supreme Court,” he said. “Mr Srinivasan is the managing director of Indian Cements Limited [the owner of the Chennai Super Kings] and is also the father-in-law of Mr Meiyappan,” FICA chief executive Paul Marsh had said.”The Supreme Court order from last Friday noted that Mr Srinivasan had made a written offer through his legal counsel to step aside from his functions as BCCI President until investigations into the allegations against him were completed. The Supreme Court has issued an interim order prohibiting any employees of India Cements Limited (other than players or commentators) from performing any duties for the BCCI. FICA understands that the order applies to Mr Srinivasan, as managing director of the company.”

Adrian Birrell, South Africa’s assistant coach, believes they have the ability to bat out the fifth day against India, like they did against Australia in Adelaide in 2012

Firdose Moonda in Johannesburg21-Dec-20130:00

There will be fight all the way – Birrell

A year and a month ago, almost to the day, South Africa finished the fourth day of a Test on 77 for 4, trailing Australia by 353 and staring at a heavy defeat. That evening in Adelaide, Russell Domingo, who was then the assistant coach, said South Africa’s chances were “probably out of the window,” and the team appeared to have accepted defeat.That was not to be. Faf du Plessis led the defiance campaign against Australia to secure a hard-fought draw. South Africa have not been involved in a Test that has gone to the fifth day since. Until now.Domingo is now the head coach, and South Africa have finished the fourth day on 138 for 2, trailing India by 319, but they do not believe they will be beaten. Their assistant coach Adrian Birrell brought nothing but fighting talk to the press conference.”We are drawing on past experiences and we believe we can do it. We’ve shown resilience, we batted a whole day before,” he said. “This team has done remarkable things in the past and we get a bit of a lift from that. It would be a remarkable thing if we can do it again.”Negotiating India’s fresh seamers in the morning will be crucial to South Africa’s chances of saving the Test, or winning it•AFP

Last year, Australia had been a bowler down after James Pattinson left the field with a rib injury and the pitch stayed placid throughout the game. India’s arsenal, however, is fully fit and the Wanderers surface has shown signs of variable bounce with the cracks opening up, making chances of salvaging something from this Test more difficult.With India scoring more freely in the second innings than they did in the first, Birrell is hopeful the surface will not become a minefield. “When you are in, runs flow. It’s a high scoring ground, you get value for shots,” he said. “The pitch doesn’t have too many demons, we know we can survive there and get runs there.”With a set batsmen in Alviro Petersen and the man who did it in Adelaide, du Plessis, at the crease, Birrell believed South Africa have the best people at the crease to start the final morning. Both are men under pressure. Petersen had not scored more than 30 in ten innings before this one, while du Plessis’ last fifty was seven innings ago.Petersen has already eased some of the load by surviving a challenging period, scoring briskly and passing fifty. “Alviro played fantastically today. He is well placed for a big score,” Birrell said. “They are both fighters, they are not going to give it away. It’s a great opportunity for both of them to play a meaningful and long innings.”Spending time in the middle is South Africa’s primary aim, and Birrell advocated the importance of taking it step by step. “It’s not an easy task to bat a full day. All we are doing is saying, let us have a look at the end of every session,” he said. “We didn’t look at 135 overs when we started. We looked at seeing it to tea with as little damage as possible.” South Africa got to the first break having faced 11 overs for no loss.Next, they will look to bat the first hour and then the morning session – something which du Plessis had described in Adelaide, when the team survived 148 overs in four-and-a-half sessions to save the Test. “We are still well placed to bat through the whole day,” Birrell said. “We don’t look at the bigger picture, we try and look in smaller bits.”In Adelaide a draw was the realistic goal, but with the runs South Africa need here, if they bat out the full day victory is not impossible. Birrell indicated they knew as much but stressed the primary goal was to draw. “We just bat. We are thinking of batting long. The runs will come. If we do bat 90 overs, it will be a fantastic game,” he said. “At the moment we are thinking draw but you never know. If we bat the full day and we bat at the rate we normally bat at, we won’t be far away. We will worry about that when we are 85 overs.”Before that, many other things will come into consideration. Dealing with India’s fresh bowlers will be one of them. Negotiating a second new-ball after lunch will be another, and fatigue – physical and mental – will also play a role. Already, they are guarding against the last of those.South Africa did not send Jacques Kallis in at No.4 because he had bowled more than his usual quota of overs, and the management felt that “an extra night’s rest would be of benefit to him.” They didn’t promote AB de Villiers either because he had kept wicket all day.”We’ve been under the pump before. They are professionals. You expect every time you start a Test, it will go the full distance,” he said. “It’s another hard day tomorrow. But there is a lot of fight in that dressing room. There will be fight all the way.”When they held Australia at arm’s length in Adelaide, South Africa punctured the hosts’ confidence, and du Plessis believed it played a role in them winning in Perth. Given that the deciding Test against India is in Durban, where South Africa have lost their last four matches, they will want a similar morale-booster.

ScorecardA career-best haul for left-arm spinner Ahmed Raza and a half-century from Shaiman Anwar helped UAE push ahead of Namibia on the opening day of the Intercontinental Cup match that saw 15 wickets.Namibia, who chose to bat at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, were in trouble early on as debutant pacer Kamran Shazad struck in successive overs to dismiss opener Xander Pitchers and Stephan Baard. But from that point onwards, the innings belonged to Raza, whose dominance of the Namibia batting was reflected in his figures of 7 for 37 off 20.4 overs.Raza, introduced into the attack in the ninth over, bowled three maidens first-up and had debutant Michau de Preez caught behind for his first wicket. Bowling unchanged from one end for the rest of the Namibia innings, Raza induced a batting collapse that saw the visitors fold for 90.UAE were shaky at the start, too, as Namibia’s left-arm pacer JJ Smit struck off successive balls in the fifth over to dismiss Saqib Shah and Saqib Ali. UAE’s recovery was led by the in-form Shaiman Anwar who shared a 123-run third-wicket stand with Khurram Khan. Anwar scored a 90-ball 81, which included 10 fours and three sixes while Khurram played a more sedate 49 off 111 balls.Namibia tried out nine bowlers, including captain Raymond van Schoor, who temporarily gave up his wicketkeeping gloves to pitch in with three overs. The breakthrough, however, came from part-time offspinner Pitchers, who dismissed Anwar. Du Preez took the wicket of Khurram Khan with his legspin, while Smit got his third leg-before victim in Rohan Mustafa.

More than six weeks after Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat offered to “apologise” to anyone who he had offended in the BCCI, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the interim BCCI chief, has welcomed Lorgat’s offer

Amol Karhadkar04-Sep-2013More than six weeks after Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat offered to “apologise” to anyone who he had offended in the BCCI, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the interim BCCI chief, has welcomed Lorgat’s offer.”Lorgat is a nice gentleman but it would be nice of him if he apologises,” Dalmiya said in Kolkata, when asked about his reaction to Lorgat’s offer that was made immediately after he was appointed the CSA chief executive despite the BCCI raising its objections.While this may appear as softening of the BCCI’s stand with Lorgat, the deadlock over the BCCI going to trim what was till a few days ago a tour of three Tests, seven ODIs and two Twenty20s, prevailed for another day.While Dalmiya reiterated what the BCCI president N Srinivasan had said three days ago that “the tour is on”, there was no formal exchange between representatives of the two boards. Even though Srinivasan, board secretary Sanjay Patel and treasurer Ravi Savant were together for most of the day along with other key executives at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, it was understood that the South Africa tour itinerary “wasn’t even mentioned” in their discussions.”The sole purpose of the meeting was to proof read and sign the annual report before it goes for printing ahead of the AGM,” said an insider who was a part of the proceedings.Across the continent, CSA indicated it would send out a release on Wednesday afternoon to reassure the fans and thank them for their support, but later said they would “try for tomorrow”. Officials contacted at various franchises said they had no knowledge of any progress on the BCCI-CSA issue and were awaiting further instructions, although many of them expressed concern over a curtailed tour.It appears that unless CSA accedes to the cricket bosses in India, the situation is unlikely to change. At least till the BCCI AGM on September 29.

Surrey are set to announce that South Africa’s JP Duminy will replace Graeme Smith’s stand-in Ricky Ponting for the last two months of the Championship season.

David Lloyd at Guildford07-Jun-2013
ScorecardBoyd Rankin’s substitution worked well for Warwickshire•PA PhotosSurrey are set to announce that South Africa’s JP Duminy will replace Graeme Smith’s stand-in Ricky Ponting for the last two months of the Championship season. The way things are going here, they could do with all three of those international batsmen playing together on the final day against a Warwickshire side suddenly sensing a chance of victory.While Ponting – whose current spell in English cricket will conclude towards the end of July – stood firm during a dramatic final session that was completely at odds with what had gone on before, the hosts lost three wickets in the space of six telling deliveries from Boyd Rankin (and 5 for 37 in all) to lurch into real trouble.They had been a seemingly solid 232 for 2 at one stage, still 250 runs away from saving the follow-on, admittedly, but with Ponting and Arun Harinath enjoying each other’s company for the second time in as many matches.But unlike at Derby last week, where the pair added 180, they were parted here after putting together a mere 63 with Harinath slapping a catch to cover. And, from then on, the Bears were pawing at the ground against opponents who suddenly looked like the second from bottom outfit that they are.Rankin, who only joined this match at the halfway stage after being released by England, bowled an expensive first spell. But when he rejoined the action from the Railway End with a ball old enough to produce reverse swing, a relatively serene picture for Surrey quickly turned into a nightmare.The big Irishman bowled Zander de Bruyn off his pads, made a nonsense of the decision to send out Stuart Meaker by ripping through the nightwatchman’s defence and then boomed a delivery back into Gary Wilson to earn a leg before decision.Three wickets for two runs in five balls looked bad enough. But Surrey’s day became even worse when Jason Roy chose to play an expansive drive against Keith Barker during the final over to be splendidly caught by a diving Jim Troughton at point.The crowd were stunned. And so was Ponting, judging from the way he marched off without even waiting for the sheepish Roy to join himSurrey will start the final day requiring another 213 runs to avoid the follow-on and with Ponting – who completed an 84-ball half-century amid the late mayhem – having only the tail for company.Even assuming they are made to bat again, this match should be saved. But it should never have come to this on a pitch where Warwickshire made more than 600 and the hosts made good progress after 37 overs were lost to rain on the third morning.Harinath and Vikram Solanki settled to the task confidently enough. And if Ponting felt even a smidgen of pressure after waiting for two days and two session to bat in front of a ‘home’ crowd, he certainly did not show it. Off the mark with a pushed single against rookie spinner Ateeq Javid, the 38-year-old was soon threading drives through the covers, pulling powerfully and, when the opportunity arose, depositing Javid beyond the rope at wide long-on.But now even a second consecutive big century, after his 192 at Derby, is likely to save Surrey from the follow-on. Game on – and a full blown crisis, too, if defeat is the end result.

Harry Maguire has explained how he is able to handle the terrace taunts aimed in his direction and why he is still on the books at Manchester United.

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Stripped of captaincy at Old TraffordTumbled down domestic pecking orderJeered when representing Three LionsWHAT HAPPENED?

The 30-year-old defender has endured a testing few months, with the club captaincy taken off him at Old Trafford. He has seen just 23 minutes of game time at club level through the opening weeks of the 2023-24 campaign and was jeered relentlessly when in England friendly action against Scotland before scoring an own goal at Hampden Park.

AdvertisementGettyWHAT THEY SAID

Maguire has told reporters of turning a deaf ear to his detractors: “I would not say I am a person who struggles with pressure mentally. I have been through a lot in the last couple of years and I have been Manchester United captain for nearly four years. You take a huge lot of responsibility and everything that comes with it – and that is a lot of bad as well as good. (At Hampden) they piled pressure on myself. I would not say I am used to it but I can deal with it. I am disappointed with the own goal but that is football. You are a centre-back and you put yourselves in those positions. I am really pleased with how I performed in the second half and how I dealt with it.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Maguire had opportunities to leave Old Trafford during the summer transfer window, but no deal was done despite slipping down the pecking order under Erik ten Hag. He added on sticking around in Manchester, with his contract due to run until 2025 and there a desire on his part to play his way back into the team: “I think it was a bit of both. How can I put this? We just didn’t come to an agreement and they were happy for me to stay and I was happy to fight for my place. I want to do that and every time I train or play I will give everything. I know, at the moment, when I have not started a game in the first four games of the season, the story comes to me. So, I need to keep performing when I get chosen. Listen, at club football, I want to play games. The first four weeks were hard because it was one game a week and the manager didn’t select me but we have lots of games coming up now and I am sure I will play lots of games.”

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Erik ten Hag took the armband off Maguire, handing it to Bruno Fernandes instead, and has been favouring the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof when it comes to filling centre-half berths for United at the start of the new season.

Ian Bell has acknowledged that England’s top-order batsmen will have to perform far better if they are regain a footing in the ODI series against India. England suffered their second crushing loss in succession in the third ODI on Saturday to allow India to take a 2-1 lead with two games to play and Bell knows that, with England having been bowled out for totals of 158 and 155, they will need to improve substantially if they are to prevent India securing a series victory in Wednesday’s game in Mohali.It is no coincidence that England won the first game of the series following a dominant performance from their top-order. Bell and Alastair Cook posted an opening stand of 158 within 28 overs to allow the middle-order to accelerate in the later stages of the innings.While Bell accepted that India’s opening bowlers had performed admirably in the last couple of games, he stressed the need for one of England’s top-order to bat through most of the innings to provide a platform for the middle-order. He hopes that the cooler conditions in Mohali might benefit England.”If we are going to get 150, that’s not going to challenge India at all in these conditions,” Bell said. “We need to get runs on the board and get a senior batsman batting for the majority of the overs.”We haven’t done that in the last two games and if we do that we can push India. In the final two games we need to get into a position to hurt India at the back end of the innings.”Their opening bowlers are very good,” he added. “They have plenty of skills and swing the ball both ways. They have made us work really hard. But we need a foundation for our big hitters in the middle to get us going.”It’s a little bit more familiar here than the last couple of games and obviously that’s nice. It’s been very nice here, very English really. That sure helps everyone.”The situation also presents the first significant test of Ashley Giles’ new career as an international coach. While Giles’ first series as England’s limited-overs coach was always likely to prove demanding – England’s limited-overs record in India offered little room for optimism – the extent of the last two defeats has been alarming.But, while Giles will consider changes to the England side ahead of the fourth match, he is also keen not to over-react. He knows, both from the ups and downs of his time as an international player and from his time as director of cricket at Warwickshire, that a calm appraisal of such adversity is infinitely preferable to any hint of panic or knee-jerk reaction.”I never, or probably only a couple of times, stamped my feet when I was at Warwickshire,” Giles said. “If the coach is on an emotional rollercoaster you end up with a team that is second guessing what your reaction will be if you win or lose. That’s not how I want to be.”Honesty is the important thing. You have to analyse where you’ve gone wrong, look at your personnel, pull those things together and ask ‘are we getting it right? Is this the right mix? Are they the right people?’ That’s the unemotional way of looking at it.”The hairdryer treatment works occasionally but not very often, not if you’re in it for the long term. If I did that after my third game, there would be a lot of worry.”However, Giles did provide the strongest hint yet that there may be changes to the England side. Concern over Craig Kieswetter’s form – though it has not been much worse than Eoin Morgan’s – has raised the possibility to him making way for his Somerset team-mate, Jos Buttler, though doubts about the latter’s wicketkeeping could count against him.While England’s batting has been their main downfall in the last couple of matches there will also be a temptation to make some changes to the bowling attack. Jade Dernbach has conceded his runs at a cost of an average cost of 7.79 an over in the series to date and, after 21 ODIs, concedes more runs per over than anyone to have bowled over 1,000 ODI deliveries: an average 6.28 runs per over. Mohali may provide an opportunity to take a look at Stuart Meaker.”That statistic is tough on Jade because he’s played a lot of cricket in India and it’s a hard place to come and play,” Giles said. “But again you have to adapt. What the Indians have done very well is hold lengths and lines, so you have to go at them to try to score. Really that’s what we’ve got to do.”Perhaps the most obvious message to England in the series to date is how much they miss Jonathan Trott. England won 12 out of 13 ODIs involving Trott in 2012 and, in that time, were never dismissed for under 200. In three out of four games without him, however, they have failed to reach 200 and been defeated in all three. Rested for this part of the tour, he returns to the side in New Zealand.In his absence, England might promote Joe Root to bat at No. 3. Root has faced more deliveries than any other England batsman in the last two games and might offer stability at the top of the order and provide Morgan and Kevin Pietersen with some protection from the newer balls. Long-term, though, Root is the only member of the top five unlikely to feature in England’s Champions Trophy side, so Giles is expecting more from his experienced players.”Changes are something that myself, Alastair Cook and the coaches will talk about,” Giles said. “We’ve got options and part of this trip is to look at those options, because we’re missing some senior players. This is where you find out about people, under pressure.”This group has been very refreshing and what we want to avoid is them just feeling beaten up. We have to pick the best team to win the next game of cricket. That will be a hot topic over the next day or two.”