Peter Moores has been backed to continue in his role as head coach by ECB managing director Paul Downton after a 15-run defeat to Bangladesh in Adelaide saw England knocked out of the ICC Cricket World Cup. Downton described Moores as “the outstanding coach of his generation” when he was appointed to the position last April, for what is his second spell in the job. But such a harrowing group stage exit from cricket’s showpiece 50-over event, along with six series defeats from eight across all formats during that time, inevitably sees his position back under the microscope.
“I do, absolutely,” replied Downton when asked by Sky Sport whether he believed that label still applied. “Part of the reason for appointing Peter at the time was that is was a very experienced coach. Whoever took it was going to have a really difficult job. We had a side that broke up in Australia, we had to introduce new players, we’ve got six new centrally contracted players this year, and part of dealing with it, which is obviously going to be pressurised, is experience. I have got every faith in Peter Moores, yes.”
Downton maintained England are still rebuilding from the disastrous Ashes tour of 2013/14, claiming the break-up of that side was always going to give team director Andy Flower’s replacement an uphill struggle to wrestle back results. “We are very early into an appointment, much as we’d like to change things instantly it takes time,” he added. “We had a successful time from 2009 to 2013 and we have to build again. There are no shortcuts, we’ve just got to back our players, invest in them and in time we will be back there again.”
Such a ringing endorsement for Moores must be qualified by Downton’s insistence that Alastair Cook was set to remain as England’s one-day captain with one game remaining of the pre-Christmas tour to Sri Lanka, only for him to be dropped and replaced by Eoin Morgan after the defeat that followed.
“We thought long and hard about it – hindsight’s wonderful isn’t it?” said Downton on the decision to switch captains at the 11th hour. “At the time we felt to have someone with Alastair’s experience going into a tournament, and his track record as a one-day player, we would give him every opportunity to perform. Clearly it didn’t happen and we felt we had to make a change. Most people agreed at the time it was a change that had to be made.”
As well as defending the decision to move the Ashes tour of Australia forward 12 months to allow a winter of white-ball cricket before the World Cup, Downton endorsed the leadership of Morgan, who picked up his fifth duck in nine innings as his side crumbled to 260 all out in their pursuit of 276.
“Eoin started with a hundred and I think as a captain he has done a pretty good job. But we haven’t won games,” he said. “Having changed the cycle – it’s not a one-off – it is a plan to be more competitive in World Cups to come. I think we’ve tried to be more aggressive but what struck me was how much of an influence Twenty20 cricket has been. A lot of our layers don’t play much Twenty20 cricket. That’s something we have to think about.”
