Australia will target Giles in second Test

"Giles has to get through the second Test to get to the third." This was John Buchanan's verdict on Ashley Giles when he outlined Australia's tactics of targeting Giles at Edgbaston, as reported by The Guardian newspaper on Friday. "We understand his role," continued Australia's coach Buchanan, "so if we can erode that, it's pretty important in the context of the whole series.

"He's a key part of [England's] strategy for containing and also resting their impact bowlers. Therefore, if he's not allowed to do the containment work, then it's unlikely he can stay at the crease and then they will need to bring back their impact bowlers."

Australia have already successfully employed this strategy in the first Test at Lord's, where their batsmen attacked Giles, hitting out against him for more than five an over for the duration of his 11 overs, in which he failed to pick up a wicket. And now they are determined to do the same next week.