Moores unveiled as England head coach

The England and Wales Cricket Board have picked Lancashire mentor Peter Moores as their new head coach, announcing their decision at Lord's on Saturday.

The England and Wales Cricket Board have picked Lancashire mentor Peter Moores as their new head coach, announcing their decision at Lord's on Saturday.

Moores was one of five candidates to be interviewed by the ECB top brass, namely Paul Downton, David Collier and Graham Lord, this week at the Home of Cricket, with Ashley Giles, the previous favourite, cropped out of the frame.

This will be Moores' second bite at the apple in this role, having coached England from 2007 to 2009, until a public falling out with then-skipper Kevin Pietersen saw him sacked and KP removed as captain.

But now that Pietersen, who mockingly tweeted 'Everyone deserves a 2nd chance!' when he saw the news on Saturday, has retired after being pushed out the side, the way has been made smoother for Moores to take the reins again.

After the resignation of Andy Flower following the dire Ashes tour earlier this year, Giles, the limited-overs coach, took over in the interim. He had a string of horrific ODI and T20 results, capped by the loss to the Netherlands at the World Twenty20.

Downton said via an ECB statement: "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.

"There is no doubt that he is the leading English coach of his generation and I believe that this is his time.

"His domestic credentials are beyond reproach having won the County Championship at Sussex and then repeating the feat at Lancashire, whose 2011 triumph was their first for 77 years.

"He was also the lead at the National Cricket Performance Centre at Loughborough between 2005 and his appointment as England coach in 2007.

"In his time with England he gave Test debuts to Stuart Broad, Matt Prior and Graeme Swann as well as helping to further the international careers of players like the current England captain Alastair Cook and James Anderson.

"He also brought Andy Flower into the England set-up as well as influential individuals like Mushtaq Ahmed as spin bowling coach.

"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.

"I would personally like to thank Ashley Giles for the job he did with the limited-overs squads in the last 18 months.

"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 around the counties."

Moores said: "I am very excited about the prospect of returning to a role I have done before and to building a strong relationship with Alastair Cook and the rest of the players and staff. In any time of change there comes opportunity and this is one I can't wait to get stuck into."

ECB Chief Executive Collier said: "Paul Downton conducted a thorough and far-reaching recruitment process.

"He has canvassed opinion worldwide resulting in the recommendation of Peter Moores. The Board unanimously endorsed the recommendation and have every confidence in the choice of Peter. We wish Peter every success in the future.

"I would like to thank all the other candidates who made up what was an extremely impressive shortlist and in particular I would like to acknowledge the work of Ashley Giles, who has made a major contribution to cricket in England and Wales."

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