Timing is right for Moores to step up
AFTER a difficult campaign, which has left them on the brink of dropping into Division Two, Nottinghamshire have appointed Peter Moores as their head coach on a three-year contract.
The former Sussex, Lancashire and two-time England supremo takes on the newly-created position from October 1 working alongside current director of cricket Mick Newell, who will remain at the club. Moores, who has been at Trent Bridge in a coaching consultancy role since July last year, will take charge of all first- team matters on a day-to-day basis. The 53-year-old admitted that the time is right to return to a head coach’s position. “It feels like the right time. You think about it because it is a big job and you want to go in and make a difference,” he said.
“You want to be able to come in and, hopefully, have some sort of impact at getting the club to where they want to be, so it feels right.
“Mick has made it clear that he wants to take on a new role that needs to be done outside the dressing room. It’s a good time to come in for me.
“It’s obviously been a tough season for us; we need to look at how we do things in certain areas if we can and to get better.”
Should relegation be confirmed, Moores accepts that his first challenge will be an immediate promotion.
“We want to come straight back up but the first task is to look at how we are doing things; get the views of the players and play the style of cricket we want.
“Obviously we have played some very good one-day cricket and been competitive in T20 and 50-over cricket but four-day wise we haven’t and there are certain areas we can look at and try and move it forward.”
He added: “If we do go down to the second division, the key will be to get out of it quickly and get back and be competitive in the first division.”
Moores admits that he’s already preparing for what is to come.
“The role starts in your head, that’s for sure,” he went on.
“As soon as you know you have been offered something and you’ve taken it on, then you are thinking and that is part of what coaches are paid to do; to make decisions on the way forward and the players and the systems, so yes, that has started straight away.
“But it is a genuine start on October 1 because we need to properly finish off this season first.
“The players have now got just a few days of cricket left and we’ve got to play some good cricket.
“We’ve got to try and finish the Middlesex game off with a win and then go down to Taunton and hope things have gone our way but it’ll be tough, we know that.”
His pride at taking on the new position is obvious. “It’s a big role because it’s a great club with a great history and they have had some great players in the past and it has got some great players here now.
“The key is to try and make it the time of your life for coaches and for the people who watch us, so we’ll try and create a team that can go out there and play the sort of cricket that people want to watch.
“The players should be very proud to represent the county.”