Ashley Giles, the former England spinner who played a crucial part with the bat during England's last ashes series victory in 2005, has reiterated what a number of other players have also stated and that is that form leading into the 2009 ashes series will be vital.Giles believes it is crucial for the England team to perform well in India over the coming weeks in order to build some positive momentum ahead of next year's Ashes series. In particular as Australia have just slumped to a 2-0 series defeat in India (their first series loss since the 2005 ashes defeat).
England slumped to a 10-wicket defeat to the Stanford Superstars in the 20million-dollar match in Antigua at the start of the month but will now look to pick themselves for a challenging one-day and Test series in India. Of course the Stanford match is completely different to a test series and not a true reflection on the England team's form. A trip to India will be a far sterner test.
"There is no doubt it will be a hard tour. India are always a tough team whether you play one-day cricket or Test cricket," said Giles. "It is a challenge for the team - we have a massive year ahead of us and we want to get some momentum going."
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