Cook is excited about the prospect of working with Giles

England ODI and Test captain Alastair Cook has announced that he fully supports the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to appoint former left-arm spinner Ashley Giles as the national team’s new limited overs coach and take some of the pressure off Andy Flower’s shoulders.

Flower will now only be in charge of the Test squad and will receive larger breaks between tours after requesting to spend more time with his family.

Flower’s request for more rest may have been a hint that he was considering to completely give up all his coaching duties with the national team, but Cook noted that the ECB did an outstanding job in retaining his services.

“It’s great that we’ve managed to keep hold of Andy,” Cook said. “He’s a great person to be involved with and we’re also adding more experience into the coaching team with Ashley coming on board. It is exciting times and I am sure it will work well.”

Cook denied speculation that Flower’s authority and grip on the team would be significantly lowered if Giles was appointed and added that his plan of having different captains for all three formats worked flawlessly until the retirement of Andrew Strauss last summer.

“It is very clear that Andy is still the team director,” Cook said. “And to me it is very similar to what happened with the three captains. That worked well and there is no reason why this can’t work well with the people involved. Having three captains gave new energy to each form of the game and I can see that happening here. Also, the coaches will have a little more time to prepare for each series. It is new, so it is virgin territory, but I can’t see why it won’t work really well.

“A lot of the coaches’ work is done when we’re not playing. It’s great that we’ve managed to keep hold of Andy, he’s a great person to be involved with, and we’re also adding more experience into the coaching team with Ashley coming on board.”

While Cook admitted that he does not know what kind of coach Giles is, he stated that he could not argue with the fact that Giles was one of the greatest left-arm spinners to represent the country and during his tenure as director of cricket at Warwickshire, he had led the county to glory last season.

“What Giles has had is a lot of success at Warwickshire,” Cook said. “He’s turned that club around. All the reports coming out of Warwickshire are that he is doing a fantastic job. He is a really good character and he knows what it takes to succeed at international level.

“He did it the hard way as well. He would probably be the first to admit he wasn’t the most naturally gifted of cricketers but, my God, he worked hard to get results. I assume he’ll be carrying that into his coaching as well. As I say, he’s done a great job at Warwickshire and I’m really looking forward to working with him. It is vital we form a good relationship as captain and coach because all three of us need to work together.”