Ashley Giles became the first casualty from England 's 4-0 defeat to Australia in the Ashes when he stepped down from his role as managing director of men's cricket on Wednesday.
Giles spent three years in the role, replacing Andrew Strauss in 2018 when he stepped down to care for his late wife Ruth.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has expressed some sympathy for Giles, calling him a "top, top bloke" and praising him for "looking after his players" during the Covid pandemic.
However, Hussain also said that Giles "made mistakes", pinpointing his decision to sack national selector Ed Smith and hand the responsibility to head coach Chris Silverwood as the biggest.
Speaking to Sky Sports News , Hussain said: "I think when you lose an Ashes series 4-0, and the way they have played in Test-match cricket over the last year or so, it was always going to be on the cards that there was going to be upheaval in the management.
"[It was] the manner of those Ashes defeats. England were hardly in a session in the series and got a lot of key decisions wrong.
"I think mistakes were made off the field. Giles made mistakes. The mistake really for Ashley was to get rid of Smith as the national selector and just put everything on Silverwood, all selection decisions, everything.
"That meant there was no outside noise at all coming in just questioning the odd decision here and there. It just looked as if they needed somebody from the outside knocking on the door and questioning them.
"I feel disappointed for Ashley because he is a top, top bloke, I can tell you that. I captained him, I worked with him.
"In Covid, Ashley was guilty of one thing and that's looking after his players, so I can't be too critical of a good bloke trying to look after his staff."
