Giles: "We don't want to be a yo-yo team"

Ashley Giles has vowed his intention to help Lancashire avoid becoming a yo-yo team as he hopes to pursue with the younger players during his tenure at Emirates Old Trafford.

Giles, speaking at a members forum at the end of the second day of Lancashire's four-day game against Kent, addressed all manner of topics, including Simon Kerrigan, Andrew Flintoff and the lack of homegrown players at the club.

The Lancashire Head Coach said: "I have been here for seven months and I am still working through things at the moment. I have only brought in one player myself in George Edwards so I am still working on it. I am looking to develop the younger guys and the academy and I am hoping to get some good quality youth players coming through."

"The lads want to play good cricket on good wickets, score 400 and bowl sides out, but because we are in Division Two we will not always play on pitches that meet that criteria. We do not want to be a yo-yo team."

Jordan Clark claimed his first four-day wicket today, but the members still
think there should be more places for homegrown players in the team.

On a day when 20-year-old Alex Davies made a career-best 99 and Jordan Clark claimed his maiden first-class wicket for Lancashire, Giles was still questioned about the lack of places for homegrown players, something Giles seemed to care deeply for.

He said: "Out of the top five batsmen, whoever they are, one of them should be able to go on and get a hundred, or at least that is the feeling in the dressing room. Brown under-achieved last year, but his one-day record was great. I would like to allow more of our own players to come through."

One member asked about the possibility of a return for Andrew Fintoff for the Natwest t20 Blast this summer after he helped Lancashire to come within touching distance at Edgbaston last year. "He is a difficult person to track down. I have sent him a text but I have not heard anything at the moment. Therefore if I was hedging my bets I would say no, he won't play a role this summer, and I would like to expose some of our youngsters later on this season," said Giles.

Giles also paid tribute to the attitude of Simon Kerrigan as the Lancashire Director of Cricket praised his attitude after a difficult period. He said: "He is bright and positive, the experience of his Test debut was horrible and it could have been avoided. His view on spin is to put it in the right places and bowl it at the right pace. I feel that he might still have an international future. Kerrigan’s confidence was given a boost when [Matt] Coles gave away his wicket late in the day."

Giles praised Kerrigan's attitude after a tough spell.

Club Chairman, Michael Cairns, then gave members an insight into the effort the club has gone through to secure the services of Peter Siddle and James Faulkner, saying that the deals would not have been possible were it not for Lancashire's good relationship with Cricket Australia.

Cairns said: "A lot of work was done with Cricket Australia to get Peter Siddle. A number of other counties wanted Peter but because of our relationship with Cricket Australia he wanted to come and play for Lancashire. We thought he was going to be available for the whole season and even though he has been picked to play for them he still wants to play four matches for us.

"Two Southern counties also wanted James Faulkner but again because of our relationship and the fact that Siddle couldn’t play for us, we managed to get him. There is also the option for someone else to join Lancashire later in the year. There is a gap at the end of the season when Faulkner will be gone, so there is an option for someone else to come later in the year."

Lancashire have welcomed 539 new members this season and the club is expected to host a small function for the new members in the coming weeks.