Moores to revitalise England's passion
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
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Following in his father's footsteps, Robin Martin-Jenkins - Sussex's allrounder and the son of Christopher, The Times' correspondent - has welcomed the ECB's appointment of Peter Moores. Martin-Jenkins has experienced Moores's coaching credentials first hand at Sussex, but also knows the man behind the profession:
Cricketers can be precious and take criticism poorly, but with Peter it was always fair and, mostly, constructive and it was this, combined with his genuineness as a human being, that inspired the Sussex players to want to improve and win trophies.
I once interviewed him for the club magazine. What he told me that day is very revealing about the man: “I want Sussex to be the team of the decade. I want the players to respect the traditions of the club, to know what the martlets are, to know what standards are expected of them to be a Sussex player, to know why they play the game; for each other and the love of the game.”
My advice to England players? Don’t be ambivalent towards those three lions on your shirt. Intensity, passion, drive. Call it what you will. It is, above all, these qualities that Peter brings to the party. A half-hour chat with him about cricket (admittedly a fairly one-way conversation) will leave you feeling that it is the greatest game in the world again — and how invaluable might that effect be on, for instance, a tour-weary Steve Harmison?
In The Daily Telegraph, Charles Randall is also upbeat:
Moores has earned his reputation for getting things done. He stood out on the Bangladesh tour for energy and approachability. He was always open to discussion - even with the media - a virtue evocative of the late Bob Woolmer, one of the game's great thinkers.
Bruce Talbot, writing in The Independent, charts the transformation of Moores, an Elvis Presley fan, from a modest player to a successful coach.
As a youngster on the Lord's groundstaff, he would always be the last to leave when the coach Don Wilson held court in the bar after the players had been paid their £32 weekly wage. He recalled: "I was always happy to make sure there was a full glass in front of the coach as long as the stories and his theories about the game kept coming."
Will Luke is assistant editor of ESPNcricinfo