Nasser Hussain: "In Covid, Ashley was guilty of one thing... looking after his players"

While accepting that Giles has made mistakes, Hussain pointed to the environment in which the England setup was expected to operate over the course of the pandemic as a mitigating factor in the admittedly poor performances over the past 18 months

Ashley Giles paid the price for being charged with managing English cricket through a pandemic.

That is the opinion of former England captain Nasser Hussain, who has sympathy with both Giles and head coach Chris Silverwood following a two-year period during which the England men's side have played more often than any other nation, regularly in bio-secure conditions.

Giles left his position as managing director of England men's cricket on Wednesday, while Silverwood is widely expected to follow this week, following a review into the miserable winter trip to Australia.

While accepting that Giles has made mistakes, Hussain pointed to the environment in which the England setup was expected to operate over the course of the pandemic as a mitigating factor in their admittedly poor performances.

^{Nasser Hussain has sympathy for Ashley Giles following his ECB departure (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

He told Sky Sports News: "I have a lot of sympathy for both Silverwood and Giles, because in the last couple of years England have played more Test cricket than anybody else and more Test cricket away from home in a pandemic.

"Their players have been in bubbles and travelling the world and it's been incredibly difficult to get 11 players switched on and playing good quality cricket all around the world. Giles has tried to look after his players, there's been a lot of rest and rotation.

"England have not always played their best side in Test cricket so in trying to look after his players, results have gone in the wrong direction and I'm afraid as director of cricket or coach or captain you're only judged on results and in Test-match cricket England sit bottom of the World Test Championship table."

Hussain did not exonerate Giles or Silverwood for the weak displays by the England Test team - series defeats have come at home to New Zealand and India, and away in India prior to the demolition in Australia.

And he pointed to the power restructure initiated by Giles last April, when Ed Smith was removed as national selector and his selection authority given to Silverwood, as a major issue.

"I think mistakes were made off the field. Giles made mistakes. The mistake really for Ashley was to get rid of Smith as the national selector and just put everything on Silverwood, all selection decisions, everything," Hussain said. 

^{Giles has left his role as managing director of England men's cricket}

"That meant there was no outside noise at all coming in just questioning the odd decision here and there. It just looked as if they needed somebody from the outside knocking on the door and questioning them."

A former teammate of Giles, Hussain emphasised the burden of responsibility carried by Giles and Silverwood over recent months.

"I feel disappointed for Ashley because he is a top, top bloke, I can tell you that. I captained him, I worked with him," he said.

"He was almost in tears in a BBC interview he did because he looked after his players. In Covid, Ashley was guilty of one thing and that's looking after his players, so I can't be too critical of a good bloke trying to look after his staff."