Giles flies home from Australia

Ashley Giles, the England left-arm spinner, has flown home to England and will play no further part of the Ashes following news that his wife, Stine, is suffering from a brain tumour.

Jamie Dalrymple, the Middlesex allrounder, has been drafted in from the England Academy in Perth. He is the second Academy player to join the senior squad after Ed Joyce replaced Marcus Trescothick who flew home at the beginning of the tour.

"The news came to me [last night] that his wife had a bit of a problem," Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, said. "And it was confirmed that it could be a potentially very serious problem, so he asked to go home. Our thoughts and sympathy are with him and he flew out this morning. We've called up Jamie Dalrymple and he'll join up with us on the Melbourne leg."

"I've been involved with England for seven years and I rate him probably the most professional cricketer I've dealt with in England, or in the top three," added Fletcher. "He really wanted to play, he got upset when he wasn't, but he came back and took the flak. And so this news must be hard, but he handled it very very well. When he left last night, we wished them well, and hope everything turns out fine for the family.

On a day when England's Ashes hopes were brutally extinguished this is a further blow to their morale.