Overs and out as bowlers deliver goods

Second Test: Tactical spin of Giles dovetails with England's variety of pacemen to give attack a menacing look

For a warm and genial chap Ashley Giles has attracted an uncommon amount of opprobrium. To hear some observers chastise him, it would seem at the least that he is guilty of a crime for which appropriate punishment can be exacted only by chaining him to a stake before the introduction of a slow-burning incendiary device.

It is gruesome stuff but then Giles has repeatedly committed horrible heresy: he is a left-arm spin bowler who has taken regularly to bowling over the wicket in Test cricket. This has been deemed to be negative, unsporting, against the spirit and possibly laws of the game, and generally a boring deterrent to batsmen and spectators which took the gilt from England's gingerbread in bowling out India twice to win the First Test at Lord's.

The perpetrator must surely be a witch. Giles was one of the six bowlers and the only front-line spinner who stuck rigidly to well-laid plans at Lord's.

It was a notable team bowling endeavour designed with specific Indian batsmen in mind and it eroded their nerves and their techniques. Before the game everybody questioned how England's second string bowling attack might take 20 Indian wickets on a good pitch. After it they were wondering why it took so long. And why the left-arm spinner was, so to speak, compounding his previous.

The equable Giles, who has still played only 16 Tests but is an A list cricketer, begs to disagree: "I've got a bit fed up with the people who just see it as purely a defensive tactic," he said. "The thing about bowling over the wicket is you have to get it right, it's almost more difficult than bowling round the wicket because you're bowling at such a small target. You've got to bowl at between leg and middle off to keep yourself in the game.

"When I do it well I believe it's a very good plan. As long as you're bowling tight lines it cuts down the rate of scoring, but you're not bowling negatively. Everyone looks at it as though it's easy but I agree wholeheartedly with Nasser Hussain that there's no point in bowling round the wicket and feeding their strengths so they can hit you on both sides of the wicket.

"I'm not a Murali or a Saqlain or a Warne but for me that tactic has worked well, it's slowed the scoring rate and got wickets. You can still get lbws from where I'm bowling because with my arm basically coming over off stump I'm bowling wicket to wicket. It's difficult because umpires are aware that the ball could be pitching outside leg stump but I think you can get as many catches round the bat and you can get wickets with frustration as much as anything else."

There is evidence of frustration in Giles as well. He first provoked censure on the tour to India last winter when, obeying instructions rigorously, he bowled over the wicket – and wide of leg stump – to Sachin Tendulkar. The harrumphs in Tunbridge Wells were louder than the crowd at a one-dayer in Calcutta. But it got Tendulkar out, so forestalled that he charged, missed and was stumped for the first time in Tests. Later, the master blaster praised the tactic as legitimate.

Giles employed it again at Lord's almost immediately. Again, he drew waspish comments from the great and the good. If its effect was slightly less spectacular, Giles is blaming himself not the strategy. "Throughout the game something didn't quite feel right," he said. He took two wickets in the match but despite the sound surface it was the faster men who made the greater incisions for England. Giles saw it as part of burgeoning team ethos which has constantly served England well under the captain and coach combination of Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher.

In the debutant Simon Jones he saw at closer quarters what the rest of us could not fail to notice. "I think he surprised a few of us, maybe impressed is a better word. We knew he had genuine pace but the lengths and lines he bowled were terrific after he lost his nerves on the opening day. On a slow pitch he rushed some of the best players in the world. I think the danger is that crowds just concentrate on his speed, and with every ball they were going oooh. The pace is vital but you've got to look at the package because otherwise these players will smack him. But what a fantastic debut."

Matthew Hoggard, who has assumed a vast maturity in the past eight months, earned more respect. "I think he lost a lot of confidence in the one-day series when there's no chance to sort anything out. The ball didn't swing normally a great deal which is where Hoggy comes in to his own but he reverse swung it and at good pace, as quick as I've seen him for a while. That spell in the second innings when he took a clutch of wickets including Tendulkar and Ganguly in a few overs was vital."

As for Andrew Flintoff, Giles is as smitten as the rest of us by his advance. "He hits the bat hard, makes good use of reverse swing, bowls attacking lines on off stump and is someone who can bowl to both plans, getting the ball up to reverse it or because of his pace and height getting it up to chest and head height to cause real problems."

You sense that Giles was especially pleased for Craig White. "He had a rough time in the winter after scoring his first Test hundred at Ahmedabad.

Suddenly he was out of the side from being a key player with Freddie Flintoff, a larger than life character, coming in. He was nervous when he batted but he played out of his skin and that lifted him with the ball. He can lack a little of self-confidence, he's also the sort of bloke, as we all are at times, who needs to be loved. To get Tendulkar out in the first innings was a great piece of tight bowling helped by a great piece of captaincy."

Giles is clearly enjoying it all. He was around England squads for a long time before they started playing him regularly. Then, his career was blighted by a long-term Achilles injury. An operation last summer has restored him. A grateful bowler gave his surgeon tickets for the Lord's Test.

Giles will almost certainly be away on tour all winter for the Ashes and the World Cup. As the 29-year-old father of Anders, two, and Mathilde, six months, he is aware of the pressures on family. They have forced Graham Thorpe to quit cricket temporarily and no doubt were a factor in Darren Gough's separation from his wife. Giles was away last winter when his wife, Stine, gave birth.

"We talk about it because it has been become increasingly hard. But equally it was bloody hard work getting here. We both agree that while I'm still good enough to do it I will still do it. There are more important things than cricket but I would regret it two years down the line say if I pulled out of this. Playing for England is why we do it."

The purists might not like it but Giles could take wickets over the wicket round the world. If he does it in Australia this winter they will not condemn him as a heretic but worship him as a missionary.

The Ashley Giles Verdict on...

Matthew Hoggard

The ball didn't swing a great deal, but he reverse swung it and at good pace, and he was as quick as I've seen him for a while. That spell in the second innings when he took a clutch of wickets including Tendulkar and Ganguly in a few overs was vital.

Simon Jones

We knew he had genuine pace but the lengths and lines he bowled were terrific. On a slow pitch he rushed some of the best players in the world. The danger is that crowds concentrate on his speed. The pace is vital but you must to look at the package. What a fantastic debut.

Andrew Flintoff

He hits the bat hard, makes good use of reverse swing, bowls attacking lines on off-stump and is someone who can bowl to both plans, causing real problems.

Craig White

He was nervous batting but played out of his skin and that lifted him with the ball. He can lack self-confidence and he's also the sort of bloke who needs to be loved.

... and himself

I'm not a Murali or Warne but for me bowling over the wicket has worked. It's slowed the scoring rate and got wickets.