Ashley Giles started out as a fast bowler but later took up slow left-arm spin. He had a rather quick arm action for a spinner but generated a lot of bounce due to his height. 'Gilo' made his debut for Warwickshire in 1993 but couldn’t manage to break into the ODI side until May 1997, following some good performances in the domestic circuit in 1996. Once he made it to the English national side, Giles had a start-stop ODI career as he played only a handful of matches until 2002. He was although, a regular in the Test side and had a memorable tour of the sub-continent in 2000-2001 season bagging 25 wickets in 6 matches. He tormented the likes of Inzamam-ul-Haq with his sharp spinning deliveries. But, a niggling Achilles injury forced him to stay out of the Ashes. He came back strongly against India to bag 5 wickets in the Ahmedabad Test.

Giles endured a lean spell with the ball for two years, reason being he changed his action. He managed to come back strongly against Sri Lanka taking 18 wickets on that tour and played a match-saving knock along with Mark Butcher in the first Test at Galle. He also had a 70-run unbeaten stand with G Thorpe in the fourth innings that saved England the blushes. He continued to provide runs for the team lower down the order.

A decent fielder with a strong arm, Giles was forced out of the side due to a recurrent hip injury and was very soon replaced by Monty Panesar. His 2006-2007 Ashes tour came to an early end as Panesar was knocking on the door with a five-wicket haul at Perth. Also, Giles had to fly back home to be with his ailing wife that compelled him to call it quits. The constant hip injury concerns extinguished any chances of a comeback and in August 2007, Giles officially announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Following his retirement, Giles became Warwickshire's director of cricket. In 2008, he was elected in the national selection panel. Four years later, he was named England’s head coach in limited-overs cricket, sharing the role with their Test coach and director, Andy Flower.