Morris supports Moores method
Peter Moores has been given a ringing endorsement after his first nine months as England coach by the new head of English cricket as he sets his sights on claiming his first overseas Test series triumph.
Since taking over as England coach from Duncan Fletcher at the start of last summer, Moores’ record has been mixed.
But as England prepared to take the field for the final, deciding Test at McLean Park, Moores was given full support by Hugh Morris, the managing director of the ECB.
Morris, the ECB representative in Napier for the final Test, believes Moores has made an impressive start to his reign despite failing to win the last two Test series.
“Peter is, I think, a terrific young coach. He had a terrific record with Sussex, was very impressive at the academy and the players have been hugely impressed with his enthusiasm and knowledge of the game,” stressed Morris.
“I’ve enjoyed working with him and he has been in this job about nine months, has a young management team with him as well and it is just a question of everyone bedding down. He has the potential to be an absolutely outstanding coach.”
Moores took the job at short notice following the departure of Fletcher in the aftermath of another disappointing World Cup campaign last May and enjoyed immediate success with a comprehensive Test series victory over West Indies at the start of last summer.
Peter Moores © Getty ImagesBuy this photo He enjoyed further success with victory in the one-day series over India and guided England to a shock one-day triumph in Sri Lanka which suggested their fortunes in that format were finally starting to turn around.
But England have also lost successive Test series at home to India and in Sri Lanka, they were beaten in the one-day series in New Zealand at the start of this tour, and defeat in the opening Test at Hamilton extended their run of Tests without a win to seven.
The tourists have since levelled the series with victory in Wellington, but the pressure may be back on if they deliver another disappointing performance over the next five days at McLean Park and returned home having failed to secure a series win.
“In international sport you always want to win but there have been a heck of a lot of changes in the last few months and in times of change you sometimes have to take one step back to take two forward and I think we are in that period of change,” claimed Morris.
“I have no doubt Peter and his management team are doing an excellent job. I seen how hard they are working and I have no doubt they will make sure the results will head in the right direction.
Test captain Michael Vaughan “To win in Wellington was fundamentally important to the team and they significantly improved on Hamilton and will be looking to do so again here.”
He stressed: “It’s always a measure of a team the way they bounce back after adversity and clearly the performance in Hamilton was not what we wanted. It was a very disappointing performance.
“Wellington showed the spirit in the team, there’s a lot of talent in the team too and when a lot of talented players work as hard as they are doing I think it is a matter of time before they turn in the right results.
“We saw that in Wellington and hope we see it in Napier.”
Morris also defended the current split-captaincy system, which many believe has not helped the early stages of Moores’ reign with Paul Collingwood taking charge of the one-day side while Michael Vaughan has returned from a long-standing knee problem to lead the Test team.
Morris stressed: “We’re lucky enough to have Michael, who is the most successful Test captain England have ever had.
“We also have Paul Collingwood, who has settled very quickly into the one day job and beating India last summer was a significant effort and so was winning in Sri Lanka. I’m happy with the system and so are the players.”
Hugh Morris has given Peter Moores his seal of approval
