While turmoil reigned 4,000 miles away back in London, England were attempting to get on with the job of preparing for their first Test match in eight months. Amid all the conjecture that has followed the power vacuum left by Paul Downton’s dismissal as managing director of England cricket, it is easy to forget that Alastair Cook and his team begin a three-Test series against West Indies in Antigua on Monday.
The current mess at the England & Wales Cricket Board is a symptom of poor results since the appointment of Peter Moores as coach a year ago. He has won just one series across all formats in his second spell in charge of the national team. However, he was defiant on Thursday night in response to suggestions that the dismissal of the man who approved his appointment last April has weakened his hold on the job.
“I don’t think it’s about my position,” said Moores. “I don’t think it changes much at the moment. My job is to try and get the team ready to play in this series. I think we expect it to be a tough series and the key is not to be distracted at all.”
The chatter in the Warner Park press box before the final day of England’s second practice match against a St Kitts & Nevis Invitation XI was that Moores was facing the sack whatever the result of the upcoming series against West Indies. Like the Kevin Pietersen issue that has dogged the team for 14 months, it is an unwanted distraction for England’s players. Moores also confirmed he has been in touch with the ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, who is his line manager and the man who sacked Downton.
He said: “Tom passed on the news of what was happening with Paul, the fact we were looking to restructure a little bit and basically said to me ‘nothing’s changed, you keep going and doing the work’ – which is exactly what I’ll do.”
Moores did, though, say that he expected to be consulted by Harrison during the selection process for the new director of England cricket, the job that has replaced Downton’s now-defunct role. “Tom’s pretty open to look to make sure we make the right appointment,” he said. “He’s going to take views off all sorts of people – I’ll be one of those people I’m sure – to make sure that we make the right decision.”
In the meantime preparations for Monday’s opening Test continue. The second warm-up match in St Kitts has become little more than a middle practice. Jonathan Trott, dismissed for a duck on Wednesday when playing for the St Kitts & Nevis XI, made only two from six balls on Thursday after switching back to his rightful team before a mistimed pull shot saw him caught behind off the bowling of Quinton Boatswain.
Yet Trott, who made 72 in the opening tour match, is still expected to open with Cook in Antigua.
