ENGLAND cricketer Ashley Giles is at the centre of a new drive to promote road safety to professional cricketers.

The scheme follows the death in recent years of two young cricketers, Graham Kersey and Ben Hollioake, in car crashes.

Now the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) has teamed up with Volkswagen, DriveTech UK, the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre at Thatcham and the English Cricket Board to launch the Safe Driving Campaign.

The season-long programme will see a combination of workshops, risk assessments and training schemes provided free to all professional players nationwide.

Giles said: ‘This is an important initiative and driver safety is a key issue for cricketers.’