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Moores out, Strauss in as ECB start England leadership reshuffle

| 09.05.2015
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The ECB have announced two leadership changes, as Peter Moores has been sacked as England head coach, while former skipper Andrew Strauss has taken up the reins as the new director.

Moores’ dismissal comes after some woeful performances on the pitch by his now former team, most recently at the ICC World Cup, where they won just two group matches out of six, and the Test Draw against a depleted West Indies side.

His assistant Paul Farbrace will take over the team for England’s two home Tests against New Zealand, with the hosts 13/8 favourites to beat the Black Caps.

An ECB report confirmed: “Peter is a man of great integrity and has offered a huge amount to England cricket.

“He is admired by the players, his colleagues at the ECB and right across the game and deserves both our deep thanks and the widest recognition for his commitment and contribution.

“The last year has been a period of transition and rebuilding in which Peter has nurtured new talent, developed new players and laid the foundations for the new coaching structure to build on.

“This decision has been made as we focus on the future and our need to build the right approach and deliver success over the next five years within a new performance structure.”

Coral are already offering odds in the next permanent head coach market, with current title-winning Yorkshire boss Jason Gillespie the favourite at 6/4.

Another Aussie, Justin Langer is next in the betting at 7/2, while Moores’ assistant and former Sri Lanka coach Paul Farbrace is a great shout at 4/1.

Other standout names include Gary Kirsten (6/1), Mickey Arthur (8/1), Tom Moody (10/1), Stephen Fleming (12/1) and Michael Vaughan (16/1).

Whoever is appointed, they will have to report to new director of England cricket Strauss, one of the nation’s most successful captains ever, who takes on the role after Paul Downton lost his job as managing director in April.

ECB chairman Tom Harrison said on Strauss: “Andrew’s breadth of ideas, his passion for England cricket and his proven leadership skills shone out.

“He was an exceptional England captain, is an authoritative voice on the modern game and has a wealth of experience building successful teams.

“Andrew’s also widely respected across the sporting landscape. We’re delighted he’s joining us at the ECB as we set out to create a new strategy for the game.”

Strauss’ appointment was as expected, after fellow former England skipper Vaughan reportedly declined on taking the position, and is certainly an intriguing one.

With the departure of Moores, who left his role with England in his first spell after a fall-out with Kevin Pietersen, does it mean that the controversial South African-born superstar now has a future in the international team?

Pietersen also infamously fell-out with Strauss over ‘text gate’ while the duo were teammates, but they have reportedly since settled their differences.

Whatever the future holds for England, they certainly can’t get much worse in all formats of the game than they are right now.

Strauss’ close relationship with current captain Alastair Cook could be vital, especially ahead of two crunch Tests this summer at home to Down Under nations New Zealand and then Australia for the Ashes.

They are 3/1 outsiders to defeat their bitter Aussie rivals.

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Sam Barnard

Sam has been writing for Coral since January 2014, and is the assistant editor of the news site. As well as the main betting sports, football, tennis and cricket, he covers the likes of golf, F1 and darts too, the latter of which has become a particular favourite. Sam enjoys playing as much as writing about sports, but niggling injuries have limited his participation in recent years, so is happy to mainly watch the pros such as Manchester United, Yorkshire CCC, Raymond van Barneveld and even Gibraltar national football team instead.