Moores slips off the ECB agenda
ENGLAND head coach Peter Moores, who should surely be sacked after the World Cup humiliation against Bangladesh, is doubly fortunate at the timing of this rock-bottom moment for English cricket.
Firstly, the new regime at the England and Wales Cricket Board are concentrating on a big restructuring of the organisation, to the extent that axing the beleaguered Moores was said not to be even on the agenda — or wasn’t last week.
Secondly, Aussie Jason Gillespie, who would be hot favourite to replace Moores, is not sure he wants the role. Gillespie has five children — with four under the age of 10 — and the County Championship-winning Yorkshire coach has promised wife Anna he will put the family first.
Gillespie said: ‘My eldest daughter Sapphire lives at home in Australia with her mum and I didn’t see her grow up as I was on the road playing for Australia. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t do the same again. The children are my priority, family come first.’
And Gillespie, who worked very successfully with England No 2 Paul Farbrace at a Yorkshire bankrolled by new ECB chairman Colin Graves, added: ‘It would be a really big ask to go away 9-10 months a year. I would find that really difficult. I’d find that a challenge.’
PHIL NEVILLE and Brentford manager Mark Warburton are part of a select group of 24 coaches working on their FA Pro-Licence at St George’s Park this week — at a time when the FA of Wales are promoting their ‘world class’ alternative course which has Thierry Henry (right), Les Ferdinand and Tim Sherwood signed up. However, the FA still regard their coaching badges as the gold standard and will react to the Welsh competition by putting on two Pro-licence courses a year in future rather than one. But there will be no reduction in the extra hours involved in completing the SGP course — 500 as compared with 350 in Wales — that the FA believe gives their set-up the edge. GRAND National- winning jockey Carl Llewellyn’s ghastly n-word comment on a racing preview panel on the eve of last year’s Cheltenham festival seems to have been airbrushed out of insular racing’s memory one year on.
Not only was Llewellyn, who was fined and interviewed under police caution, included in exactly the same line-up for the annual tipping evening at famous racing pub The Hollow Bottom last night but the sport’s promotional arm Great British Racing have assistant trainer Llewellyn featured riding Champion Hurdle horse the New One on one of their main Cheltenham preview videos on their official website. A spokeswoman said: ‘Carl has paid his dues.’
FORMER Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli’s ambassador appearance at the recent Qatar racing festival in Doha has only added to speculation that the Frenchwoman — crassly described during Wimbledon as ‘not a looker’ by John Inverdale — is considering a return to the sport, but as a Qatari citizen. And Bartoli would receive a huge sum for changing nationalities, reportedly as much as £1million.