Difficult to look past Dominic Sibley for New Zealand tour, states Ashley Giles
ECB's director of men's cricket Ashley Giles believes that it will be difficult for the selectors to look past Dominic Sibley for the Tests against New Zealand in winter. Sibley is currently the highest run-getter in division one of County cricket and scored a double-century in his last outing.
While there were cries from fans, former cricketers and experts alike during the Ashes to open with Warwickshire's Dominic Sibley, the English selectors surprisingly continued to put their faith on Jason Roy and Joe Denly, before finally pulling the plug on the latter in the fifth and final Test. But now, with pivotal Test series' against both New Zealand and South Africa upcoming, the selectors will have big calls to make, especially with the batting.
One cricketer who has put his hand up for seletion is Sibley, who has amassed 1324 runs in the ongoing county championships for Warwickshire, at an absurd average of just under 70. In fact, in his last outing against Nottinghamshire, Sibley scored twin centuries, with the first of the two being a double-ton. Now, Ashley Giles believes that it'd be impossible to look past the youngster who's been scoring runs for fun.
“He is a mature guy, who works extremely hard and is really ambitious, so it’s difficult to look past what he’s got this season,” Giles told Wisden.
“He’s got almost 1,400 runs this year, an amazing amount of runs, and pleasingly, he has faced around 3,000 balls, which is over a thousand more than anyone else, so that’s a good starting point," he added.
Giles also further added that while Sibley's technique might not look the prettiest to the eye, his runs speak for himself and also praised the 24-year-old's determination and work ethic, which has now seen him knock the door of the selectors ahead of the winter Tests. However, Giles admitted that his selection will eventually come down to Ed Smith and James Taylor, who will have the last say.
"Dominic is not the prettiest on the eye all the time, but then neither is Rory Burns or Steve Smith. He is a mature guy, who works extremely hard and is really ambitious, so it’s difficult to look past what he’s got this season.
“Whatever your technique, if you are batting that many balls, you are doing something right, so I’m delighted for him, having taken him to Warwickshire. But his selection will come down to Ed Smith and James Taylor," he concluded.
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