Donald McRae in the Guardian where the title is far more sober and reads “Michael Carberry slams treatment by Ashley Giles and the England Selectors”
Pix from Telegraph
Michael Carberry has criticised the managerial qualities of Ashley Giles and expressed his shock at the permanent exclusion of Kevin Pietersenfrom the England team. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the opening batsman on the recent Ashes tour revealed his anger and disappointment at the way he and other England cricketers have been treated by their coaches and selectors.
Carberry, who has not given up hope of playing for England again, defended Pietersen’s role during the disastrous tour. He also suggested that Giles, the England limited-overs coach who on Monday watched his team slump to an embarrassing World Twenty20 defeat to the Netherlands, did not communicate openly. “It’s that age-old word, man-management,” said Carberry, who was England’s second-highest run-scorer in the Ashes behind Pietersen.
The 33-year-old became so frustrated at being ignored for the one-day series in Australia that he finally sought an explanation from Giles, who coaches the 50-over and Twenty20 teams and who may still be appointed as England’s new head coach, despite the humiliation in Chittagong against the Dutch.
“I had a brief chat with Ashley during the fifth ODI in Adelaide,” Carberry said. “His response was that he didn’t really know. If you don’t know mate, I sure as hell won’t know.”
Carberry’s comments will only cast further doubt on the credentials of Giles to take overall charge of England across all three formats of the game. Giles’ hopes have been underpinned by his widely-acknowledged decency as a man and approachability as a coach. His results since taking responsibility of the 50-over and Twenty20 teams last summer have been poor, and reached a nadir against the Netherlands, but his conciliatory style was supposed to have been popular. Carberry reiterated that this lack of communication and a sense of some players feeling ostracised continued a familiar trend. Asked if he had been contacted by England’s management since the end of the Ashes tour, Carberry said: “No. Nothing – which is disappointing but it’s the way they tend to do things. I don’t think it’s me alone saying this sort of thing. There have been players before me and players now who have felt the same thing.”
Carberry conceded that, especially if Giles is appointed the head coach, his own Test future is now clouded. “Leaving Adelaide after our brief chat I’ve got to be honest, it didn’t fill me with a great deal of optimism. I feel that this is a question he should have answered. And, OK, if it’s not him answering, it should be one of the selectors. But that’s the way England like to do things. It disappoints me because I’m quite an approachable guy. Maybe I’m a bit straight-talking but it’s the best way to be in this world – say what’s on your mind.
“I’m sitting here disappointed I’m not involved in the one-day setup. I seem to have been left out for some unknown reason. I don’t think it’s a cricket reason because my one-day stats speak for themselves over the last few seasons. So I’m disappointed the selectors haven’t fronted up and spoken to me.”
Pix from BBC
England’s Twenty20 squad fly home from the World T20, having failed to qualify from the group stages. Giles’s limited-over team also performed fitfully during a brief tour of the West Indies and did not lift the gloom over the English game after the humiliation of losing 5-0 in the Ashes.
“It’s obvious that since the [Ashes] tour ended some very, very strange decisions have been made,” Carberry said, while underlining his surprise that England had decided never to pick Pietersen again. He described England’s best and most gifted cricketer, whom Carberry had played with at Hampshire, as being especially helpful to him in Australia.
“It was a big surprise,” he said of his former Hampshire team-mate’s exclusion, “because I don’t think anyone saw that coming. Through the tour, certainly, Kev was very helpful to me. Over the years Kev, as one of the greats of the game, has always been very helpful in talking about the mental side. In England’s position you want to retain that knowledge as much as you can. You hope he will still be around the county game for the benefit of the next generation.”
Asked if he felt he had received more constructive feedback from the opposition than his own team, Carberry said: “Yeah, I would say so. I’ve played against enough Australians to know they’re very cagey with their compliments so I must have shown a glimpse of something for them to say: ‘Look, mate, you stood up through some serious spells …'”
Carberry expressed doubt that much will change within the England camp – even after the ECB confirms its new head coach in late April. “It’s been an ongoing thing for years. I don’t think it’s something that’s going to change immediately. They have a way of doing things.
“I’ve been in the game a long time and you know some guys get given a shorter rope than others. I’m probably going to be a bit controversial here but throughout my England career, even as a schoolboy, I’ve always had that shorter rope – for some reason. I don’t think much has changed now that I’ve stepped into the Test and one-day arena. I’m not going to hide my emotions. I was bitterly disappointed.
“At the age I am, I need straight answers. To be told I’m on the radar or being talked about? All these lip-service cliches don’t interest me any more.”