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SUNDAY CHRONICLE April 20, 2014
Moores returns as England coach (REUTERS) - Peter Moores was named England coach for the second time yesterday as the cricket board continued its overhaul following the humiliating 5-0 Ashes rout in Australia at the start of the year. The 51-year-old succeeds Zimbabwean Andy Flower who stepped down after five years in charge following the whitewash Down Under in January. Moores coached England for two years from 2007 before he was sacked after a fall-out with leading batsman Kevin Pietersen whose international career was ended by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after this year’s Ashes defeat. “It’s great to be back. I feel very proud to get this opportunity because I think it’s a great chance,” Moores told a news conference at Lord’s. “To work with an outstanding player, person (captain Alastair Cook) and try to build something, it’s an opportunity and to be part of that opportunity I’m very excited and looking forward to the challenges ahead.” Moores, a journeyman player and a former coach of Sussex, took charge of Lancashire after leaving England and in 2011 led the club to the outright County Championship title for the first time in 77 years. Former international spinner Ashley Giles, England’s one-day coach, was the favourite to get the number one job.
around the counties.”
Peter Moores, Paul Downton and Alastair Cook at the unveiling of England’s new coach, Lord’s,yesterday
However, the team’s poor World Twenty20 campaign last month in Bangladesh, where they failed to get past the group stage, appears to have counted against him. Moores faces a major rebuilding job following the end of Pietersen’s international career, the retirement of experienced off-spinner Graeme Swann and the stress-related problems faced by batsman Jonathan Trott who announced he was taking another break from the game on Friday. SMALL STEPS Cook, though, said he was looking forward to England hosting the Test series against Sri Lanka and India later this year and also going to the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2015. “It’s going to be small steps,” the captain added. “It’s going to take a little time to rebuild but we have
got a huge amount of talent in this country and it’s a very exciting time to be an England player.” ECB managing director Paul Downton, who was appointed in October, said Moores was a perfect fit for the role but did not give any details about the length of contract his new coach had signed. “Peter has a great reputation around the world as an outstanding coach and he will return to the role as England head coach with a great deal more experience and understanding of the challenges that the role presents,” he explained. “There is no doubt he is the leading English coach of his generation and I believe that this is his time. “I was hugely impressed by his vision for the future of the England team and I am looking forward to working with him in the years to come,” said former England
News agencies boycotting IPL over photo restrictions (REUTERS) - A number of news agencies have decided against covering cricket’s Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition in India and the United Arab Emirates, due to the exclusion of some photo agencies from covering matches. Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Press and Associated Press will send no reporters or photographers to the tournament, which began last Wednesday, as a protest against the IPL’s limit on editorial freedom. The photo agencies, including Getty Images and Action Images, supply publishers
of editorial newspapers and websites around the world with images from sporting events in numerous countries without problems, but have been excluded from covering the seventh edition of the IPL following a disagreement regarding the commercialisation of images. “The IPL policy is counterproductive and will lead to cricket fans being denied the varied and independent coverage they would expect from such reputable news sources,” the News Media Coalition, which fights against controls placed on news gathering and distribution by the organisers
of major sporting events, said in a statement. “Between them, news agencies reach hundreds of thousands of publishing entities which are seen by millions of readers. That’s the value of getting the news media on-side - to the benefit of team franchises, players and sponsors. “International news and photo agencies were able to cover the first IPL tournaments including the one in South Africa and we do not believe there should be an obstacle for the IPL 7 or other Indian cricket events.”
wicketkeeper Downton. “It was a really difficult decision to make as we had an outstanding field but the panel were unanimous in the choice of Peter and I know that support will be echoed
PIETERSEN DISCONNECTION When Moores was fired by the ECB in 2009, Pietersen was also relieved of the captaincy. Downton said there was no way back for the maverick batsman. “The issue at that stage was that you had a senior player (Pietersen) who had got disconnected from the team,” he added about the circumstances leading to the South Africa-born player’s sacking after the Ashes whitewash this year. “I spent two to three weeks speaking to all the coaches on that trip, several senior players, to the captain, to James Whitaker,
the chairman of selectors, and came to the unanimous conclusion that if England were going to rebuild after a very disappointing 5-0 loss we had to make a decision,” said Downton. “We had to rebuild not for the first three months but for the next two years, three years, five years and for the side to grow “We had to invest in new players and we had to build a new team with core values and we decided that wouldn’t happen with Kevin in the side so we decided not to select him going forward,” added Downton. “The future of English cricket is very exciting and I don’t see any intention of going back.”