Giles moves closer to return to Warwickshire

Warwickshire hope to have completed the recruitment of Ashley Giles as director of cricket by the end of the week.

As ESPNcricinfo revealed at the time, Giles was the club's first choice when they made the decision to sack Dougie Brown at the end of the season.

Giles is currently director of cricket at Lancashire, however, and is contracted to the club until the end of the 2017 season.

Negotiations between the two clubs are understood to be on-going with Warwickshire expected to pay compensation to Lancashire in return for Giles' release.

It would be a surprise if his release is not granted, though. While the news is a substantial inconvenience to Lancashire, there is respect for Giles' personal circumstances - there have been some health issues within his family and he currently spends much of his time living out of a hotel room in Manchester - and an acceptance that, if he wants to be elsewhere, he is no longer the man for the club. Glen Chapple would appear to be particularly well placed to replace Giles.

If the move is not completed soon - perhaps even by the end of the week - Warwickshire are expected to abandon the attempt and appoint another candidate. ESPNcricinfo understands that Richard Pybus, who is currently director of cricket with West Indies but has been linked with a string of county jobs in recent times, and Dav Whatmore, who oversaw Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup victory, have already been informally interviewed. If Giles is deemed unobtainable, one of them will be offered the role.

The new director of cricket will be expected to lead the process of finding a new head coach for the side. If Giles is appointed that is very likely to be Jim Troughton. Troughton was club captain and Giles the coach when Warwickshire won the County Championship in 2012.