A new era for England's selectors

The men who will shape the England team that will attempt to regain the Ashes in 2009 have been chosen. Geoff Miller, the former England all-rounder pictured left in 1981, has been appointed to the new full-time post of National Selector, a role that was recommended by the Schofield inquiry into last winter's Ashes debacle. He will be advised on selection by Peter Moores, the head coach, and two new part-time selectors in Ashley Giles and James Whitaker.

Interviews for the post took place two weeks ago and the interviewing panel of Hugh Morris, Dennis Amiss and David Collier felt that Miller's experience as a member of the England selection committee for almost eight years gave him the edge over other candidates such as Tim Boon, the Leicestershire coach, and Chris Adams, the Sussex captain.

David Graveney, who has been chairman of selectors since 1997, also applied for the job and had been backed by Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood, the Test and one-day captains, but perhaps after a decade in which he has made more right decisions than wrong it is the right time to stand him down with profuse thanks. He will be given a new challenge: filling the new post of performance manager and will be responsible for developing young players within the counties' academy programmes.

Miller, 55, will leave with the England team on January 26 for the tour to New Zealand. As a selector, he can claim part of the credit for uncovering the likes of Monty Panesar, Ryan Sidebottom and Andrew Strauss, although Ian Blackwell, Rikki Clarke and Saj Mahmood may be regarded as lesser successes. It is not yet clear whether Miller, a brilliant after-dinner speaker, has been offered an increase on the advertised salary of £80,000 to compensate for the loss of some of his extra-curricular work during winter tours.

A likeable Derbyshire and Essex off spinner who played 34 Tests with moderate success, Miller is regarded as a good thing by most players and coaches - and even the media like him. Approachable, yet discreet; opinionated yet open to ideas; his first task is to identify 20 players who will be in contention for the Ashes XI in just over a year.

In fact, selection has been one of England's successes, under Graveney and his team, for the past decade. The men chosen to fight for the Ashes in 2005 were the right men. The squad chosen to fight for the Ashes in 2006-07 were also, it is generally acknowledged, the right men. Where England went wrong was in choosing the wrong men from that squad to play in the first two Tests and the wrong captain (and simply coming up against an Australia side hell-bent on revenge).

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it is well known that the selectors had wanted Chris Read and Monty Panesar to start the series instead of Geraint Jones and Giles but Duncan Fletcher, as coach at the time, over-ruled them once the team were in Australia. That the new national selector will travel with the team will hopefully mean that he gets the team he wants - and by extension will carry the can if they fail.

Giles, another popular player, has been on the ascendancy after injuries brought a premature end to his playing career last year. As director of cricket at Warwickshire, he has brought new life to a county that felt slightly stagnant. With Darren Maddy as a newish captain and Allan Donald back in the fold as bowling coach, Warwickshire are a side to watch this season. The 34-year-old left-arm spinner was one of England's most reliable players and a great team man - and if that sounds like damning with faint praise, it is only because he did not quite have the hoped-for ability to run through sides like a Derek Underwood. He more than played his part with bat and ball in the 2005 Ashes.

Whitaker won the county championship as Leicestershire captain in 1996 and 1998 and has managed England A and Under-19 teams; he should provide a good fresh pair of eyes. He is also one of three Ashes winners on the panel having earned his solitary Test cap during Mike Gatting's tour to Australia in 1986-87.

It is too early to say how the news will be received by players, but Ian Bell, who has developed into a solid if still not quite fulfilled England No 3 but who may have to slip down the order to accommodate Strauss in New Zealand, could be one player to be pleased: Giles is his county boss and Whitaker was his manager for England under-19.

Also, with two spinners on the selection panel (and David Parsons, the former spin coach, recently appointed to the important role of performance director) it seems clear that a greater interest will be placed on the men who could do to Australia what Shane Warne did to England for so long. Monty Panesar is the man in possession of the spinning slot, but the England selectors will already be identifying a cadre of rivals, headed by Adil Rashid, the Yorkshire leggie, to keep Panesar on his toes.

Comments

[Innocent Abroad]

I don't think there's any correlation between playing ability and selectorial nous. I'm sure Sir Ian Botham respects Sir Alec Bedser's playing record, but no one's fool enough to ask Beefy what he thinks of Bedser as a selector.

I also doubt there's a national selector anywhere in the world who wouldn't acknowledge that, like Napoleonic generals, selectors need above all things to be lucky - with injuries, runs of form and so forth. Otherwise, they'd've written a computer programme for it long ago.

[davide]

Whilst i agree with the appointment of Miller, what the hell use is Giles. If he had any information to pass onto our team-spinners, surely he would have got more batsmen out.

Aussies get Warne, well known cricket dunderhead not, and we get Giles, Einstein of cricket.

Me thinks we will be playing Zimbabwe sooner than we expect.