THINGS could not be much better for Ashley Giles at the moment.

The England and Warwickshire left-arm spinner, a Droitwich Spa resident, has enjoyed a successful summer for his country and is fast becoming one of the world's most feared bowlers.

He was part of the England team that won the Test series' against New Zealand and the West Indies, featured in the NatWest Challenge victory against India and was in the side that finished runners-up to the West Indies in the ICC Champions Trophy last month, a run that featured victory over Australia.

Giles, a guest on BBC One's A Question Of Sport last Friday, played a major role in those matches but it is his Test heroics against the West Indies that stand out.

He took nine wickets in the First Test at Lord's in July, earning him the man of the match award for a performance that included the clean dismissal of Brian Lara, Giles' 100th Test wicket. He then repeated the feat a week later in the Second Test at Edgbaston, securing career-best figures of 9-122 in the process.

"It was a magic two weeks," he said. "To get the man of the match award at Lord's and pick up my 100th Test wicket and to get Brian Lara the way I did on the same day was a fantastic occasion.

"Then you don't think it can get any better and you go to Edgbaston and do it all again in front of your home crowd."

And now he has been named in the one-day team for the controversial tour to Zimbabwe in November and then he is off on the Test tour of South Africa from December to February.

Giles said: "I decided two months ago that I was going to go (to Zimbabwe). They did offer to rest me but I did feel I should be going and I am not happy to give my place up to anyone now either."

So things are going well.

But it has not always been so rosy for the 31-year-old. He considered giving up international cricket earlier this year following criticism over his performances in the victorious West Indies tour in March and Sri Lanka at the end of last year, despite taking 18 wickets in that series.

"I never got to that stage of actually quitting," he said. "I have never been a quitter. Myself and my wife spoke about it because it was getting me down and I was getting a hell of a lot of stick.

"I think there was just a point where because I hadn't had success here, people were after me. So as soon as I went to the West Indies, through no fault of my own, I only bowled 30 overs in the series, people were after me. When the Press and the public are on your back and looking to get you out it's very difficult to fight them off but luckily I have."

And how? His showings against the West Indies well and truly put the critics in their place.

"The turning point was probably before the Trent Bridge Test against New Zealand (June 10)," Giles added. "I met up with our sports psychologist Steve Bull and he gave me some things to think about and from that Test match onwards I have been a different character, a different bowler and a different cricketer all round.

"It's been amazing. It's been a big change in my outlook on my career. I now see this summer as the start of the rest of my career rather than the end of my career."