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Ashley Giles could one day to be named England coach. If he does he will have earned his stripes the hard way. Sleepless nights and stress-filled days have been part of his fight to restore his beloved Warwickshire to being strong Championship contenders.

Giles enters his fourth year as the at Edgbaston with the previous three having had their moments of success. To was a real triumph but the scrap to avoid relegation must have left him bruised.

Mind you any long-term damage to his outlook on the game does not show. He must have spent the off-season putting something special in the Bears porridge, which stirred them from winter hibernation to produce one of the most relentless batterings by a group of bowlers ever seen on poor old Somerset .

Giles says himself the Championship is the one which best judges the team over a whole season and he believes the profile is increasing.

"Division Two sides are desperate to get into the top flight and those in it want to stay. It means alot," he said.

In an ideal world Giles would prefer 14 matches not 16 but accepts with the number of clubs we have now it fits perfectly. He would never want to sacrifice his club and understands why nobody else would either.

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I'm amazed how much optimism is to be found around the circuit at present. Predictions of county clubs playing out the end game financially led me to return from the expecting long faces.

The brilliant weather was a lucky break and the lucrative TV deal for England's forthcoming series against India is well timed. Even so there is a stance being taken by the sport here which says 'we know what we want and we know how to achieve it'. The question is can they?

It might prove to be a misplaced gamble of confidence and nobody is saying this year is going to be easy. Next season with the pushing everything to the side will be more challenging still.

I'm now wondering whether this is the time for our game to go a step further and stand up to players and agents who want the Indian Premier League money and still to turn out for England and their county clubs. From now on players should be told if you want to go and play as 'freelance' performers, do so.

I for one don't blame them chasing the money. It's a correct freedom of choice. But if that's the path they take, the clubs and the England and Wales Cricket Board should from next season say 'fine but we'll talk about different contracts and see you in June for our T20 and we'll pick our Test team from those who are fully committed to it'. Will that lead to us losing our best players? Possibly. But a compromise is unsustainable and I don't think it will.

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