Farbrace: ‘I will defend Moores to the hilt’

Cricket365
August 21, 2015

England assistant coach Paul Farbrace has echoed skipper Alastair Cook's sentiments in giving credit to former coach Peter Moores for the team's current success, saying he laid the foundation for the Ashes victory.

Moores was sacked after the World Cup, where England were knocked out in the group stages in Australia, and Cook recently said that Moores didn't get enough credit for the current team, given how many young players he nurtured.

Farbrace, who was Moores' assistant and is now coach Trevor Bayliss' assistant, said he hated the way the media blamed the World Cup on Moores, and was pleased that Cook said what he did after the Ashes win at Trent Bridge.

Farbrace said: "Following Mooresy down the tunnel at Adelaide was horrible. I did not enjoy seeing him take the stick that he did, and I will defend him to the hilt.

"That bloke gave absolutely everything to England. I am so pleased that Cooky mentioned him because he did nothing but work hard for the team. He will still be in touch with the majority of the boys.

"It is no surprise that he has come to Notts (as a consultant) and in the time that he has been there he has improved them massively.

"From my point of view, I hated the winter, I hate losing, but I have really, really enjoyed the last few months. But the team will go on long after I am finished with the England team, and be a very exciting team in the future."

Farbrace went on to say that new coach Bayliss was always encouraging players to go in with a positive frame of mind, but that it was actually not originally a set-out plan against the Black Caps, when the team's fortunes turned around.

He added: "Against New Zealand I don't think we set out to be an ultra-attacking team. It just happened by chance, at 30 for 4 on that first day at Lord's, that Root plays one way, get his singles and scores boundaries, and Stokes came in and whacked it.

"And all of a sudden the headlines were 'this new England way of playing'. But I think we stumbled across it as opposed to set out to play in that way.

"I think it suits us. You look at the way the middle order play and they are all quite attacking batsmen. Trev keeps telling them to have a positive mindset, because then you are in the best position to play whatever ball is delivered to you – in the best position to leave, defend or hit it."