Peter Moores not jumping in feet first

PETER MOORES resumed life as the England head coach yesterday more than five years since his work was rudely interrupted.

England head coach Peter Moores has began his second stint as England coach.

PETER MOORES resumed life as the England head coach yesterday more than five years since his work was rudely interrupted.

He met players and staff in Loughborough and, despite his enthusiasm and energy, pledged not to rush into decisions whatever the urgency of the challenge ahead.

With the first group of about 30 centrally contracted, increment and limited-overs players taking part in the annual fitness tests, scans and other routine health checks, neither Moores nor Paul Farbrace, his assistant, wasted any time in meeting their new charges. The pair will be at the National Performance Centre again tonight (AEST) when the rest of the squads, including Alastair Cook, the Test and one-day captain, undertake the same assessments.

Some matters are more pressing than others. England confirmed that Moores will be part of the selection process alongside James Whitaker, the national selector, and Angus Fraser. Moores will fill that function on the same ex-officio basis as Andy Flower, who stepped down as team director in January.

A first squad will be picked as early as next week for the one-day international against Scotland in Aberdeen on May 9. Whether Ashley Giles also remains part of the panel has been deemed a matter for the former England left-arm spinner to decide. Giles expected to be named as successor to Flower, but has instead found himself out of work with his job as limited-overs coach now defunct.

The ECB has not pushed Giles for a quick answer on his own present role as a selector out of sensitivity, given his considerable disappointment at the decision taken last week. For the same reason, Moores has yet to contact Giles either to commiserate or tap his brain before the game against Scotland and subsequent one-off Twenty20 and five one-day internationals against Sri Lanka.

One early issue facing Moores is the management of Stuart Broad. The Twenty20 captain was clearly handicapped by tendinitis in the knee during the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, despite an injection to try to help him through. The medical team have ordered rest to be followed by a period of strengthening, but have stipulated no fixed date for a return.

Although Moores will have a better idea by the weekend when the test results are crunched, Broad has been ruled out of the Scotland game. The Sri Lanka program begins on May 20 with a Twenty20 match, and the two-Test series takes place in June. Broad and Giles hinted in Bangladesh that the seam bowler may step down from the 20-over game to prolong his career in the other formats.

The England hierarchy, both playing and backroom, has undergone something close to revolution since the start of the last Ashes and Moores is expected to promote more changes in personnel on and off the field. Before heading to Loughborough he spoke about the need to balance young and experienced players and was coy about alterations he is contemplating to the coaching team.

“I do not want to get ahead of myself,” he said. “The first thing for me is to go in there and have a look. You do not want to rush things, you have to find out where you are. You certainly do not want to make mistakes by getting rid of people and things that are very good. The same goes with players.”

Despite the controversial manner of his exit after what was effectively a vote of no confidence from Kevin Pietersen in 2009, Moores brought some good people into the England fold, including Flower as the batting coach and Ottis Gibson, the present West Indies coach, to work with the pace bowlers.

He also appointed Richard Halsall as the first full-time England fielding coach. Halsall remains in situ, though, Paul Collingwood undertook the role in Bangladesh and England have lined up a number of alternatives to work with the team this summer as Halsall ponders a return to teaching.

The Times