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Graveney axed as selector

18/01/2008

David Graveney has been replaced as England's chief cricket selector by Geoff Miller with Ashley Giles and James Whitaker joining the panel.

Whitaker, a former manager of England A, and Giles, the ex-England spinner and current Warwickshire director of cricket, join the four-man committee as part-time members alongside current England head coach Peter Moores.

Graveney, who has been in the job for more than a decade, moves to the role of performance manager in line with the restructuring recommendations of the England cricket review group headed by Ken Schofield last year.

Geoff Miller, a former England player with 34 Test appearances, will begin work in his new role as national selector and will travel to New Zealand with the England squad for the upcoming tour.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) deputy chairman Dennis Amiss, who made the appointments alongside managing director Hugh Morris and chief executive David Collier, said: "We would like to thank David Graveney for all the hard work, dedication and professionalism he has demonstrated as chairman of selectors over the past eleven years.

"England cricket has made significant progress during David's tenure and he can be immensely proud of his contribution.

"The ECB is naturally keen to retain someone with David's skills and experience and we are very pleased that he has agreed to take on a new and important role which is designed to help identify the next generation of England cricketers.

"Ashley Giles and James Whitaker are very welcome additions to the selection panel and we would like to wish them and the national selector, Geoff Miller, every success in their new roles."

Graveney himself said it had been "an enormous honour" to be associated with the England selection panel since 1997 and gave his successor his seal of approval.

"Geoff Miller is a good friend of mine as well as someone that I have enjoyed working with over the past seven years as a selector," Graveney said.

"It's a terrific opportunity for Geoff and I would like to congratulate him on his appointment."

Miller said the new role would be "an honour and a privilege" and he is looking forward to "developing a close working relationship with my co-selectors".

Giles expressed his gratitude to Warwickshire for allowing him to combine the roles, adding: "I am really pleased to have been given this job and very excited by it.

"It will be great to be involved again with England cricket and I believe that my recent experience of international cricket will benefit all the various England teams as we go forward into the future."

Whitaker said he is "absolutely thrilled" to be joining the selection panel and vowed to use his experience in county cricket to "bring a range of viewpoints to the panel".