Miller kept faith in quality

National selector Geoff Miller says that England reaped the rewards of sticking by their star players with the recent Ashes triumph.

There were question marks over several of England's players heading into the tour of Australia, but the team rose to the challenge and secured a historic 3-1 series win.

Opening batsman Alastair Cook had been struggling for runs but turned his fortunes around to claim the player of the series award and was also the top run-scorer.

Kevin Pietersen had also been in poor form but scored a crucial double century during England's victory in the second Test in Adelaide.

James Anderson took 24 wickets after enduring a miserable last Ashes tour, and Miller says England's reluctance to make rash selection decisions has paid off.

"The beauty of the series is that everyone has done something,"he toldSky Sports News.

"It's not just a matter of players being dropped. If we feel it's necessary to drop them then we would do that, but we see a wider angle, and the wider picture than that, and we know we're talking about quality players."

Quality

Miller added:"You stick by players, you know what the situation is with these players.

"You know how they're feeling in themselves and we knew Alastair Cook is a quality player and very strong mentally as well.

"Yes, he was going through a tough time, but that's no different from a lot of international players, they go through tough times.

"He had the quality to come through it, as do one or two of the others. We know what kind of players we've got in there. They each enjoy each other's success, not just their own, so it's a good unit."

Miller also firmly dismissed suggestions that Paul Collingwood's Test retirement came as a relief and saved him the awkward job of dropping the 34-year-old.

"We're not glad when people finish in international cricket. He's been an integral member of this side and he's a model pro,"he said.

"It's disappointing and we're never glad when people finish international careers because we'd like them to go on as long as possible. But we understand his decision and we accept it."

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