A safe pair of hands

Despite never quite making it at the highest level as a player, England cricket coach Peter Moores is certain he will succeed as the boss. As David Woodward discovers, for all his boyish enthusiasm, he's determined to make England the best side in the world

When Michael Vaughan was asked to describe the new England coach Peter Moores, one word in particular stood out: it is Moores's "enthusiasm", said Vaughan, that will help him in his bid to take English cricket to the next level. Normally more original in his analysis, Vaughan was actually borrowing a well worn cliché—a character tag that has followed Moores around since he first donned wicketkeeper's gloves for Sussex. The England captain wasn't alone in his view. TV analyst Simon Hughes calls Moores an "enthusiastic, effervescent character". The ECB's Hugh Morris says he's "naturally enthusiastic". Chris Adams, Sussex captain under Moores when they won the County Championship in 2003, echoes the others, as does England all-rounder Paul Collingwood. Ditto current England wicketkeeper Matt Prior. Peter Moores is cricket's Mr Enthusiastic.

Moores's motivation is part love of the game, part unfulfilled ambition as a player. Despite making over 500 career dismissals for Sussex, his opportunities to keep wicket for England were limited by the unassailable form of both Jack Russell and Alec Stewart. Like his predecessor Duncan Fletcher, Moores has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game—both favour vigilant laptop analysis—but after Fletcher's curt, dictatorial style, Moores is a breezy charge of positivity. Those ultramarine eyes mean business. And here he comes, bounding up the steps in his team shorts and tracksuit top, like some silver-haired schoolboy granted the treat of wearing his England replica kit for the first time.

He talks about how excited he was on hearing the news of his appointment. He remembers thinking long and hard about how to talk to the players as a group for the first time. "You need a positive outlook," he says. "You look at solutions rather than problems." Which, on reflection, sounds like the sort of thing a business guru might say. But there's plenty of rationality to match the boyish intensity. "Over time, we need all the England players to be responsible," he says, "to have the ability to make informed decisions and develop themselves to the level we want for international sportsmen. We want them to develop as men as well as sportsmen."

In life, he says, it's easy to be negative. "We complain about the weather, about getting up early, lots of things." In all teams, "you have people who put energy into the group and people who take energy out of the group. If everybody's putting it in you get this very vibrant and exciting atmosphere around the team, and special things can happen in that."

There are 22 hours left until the third and final Test against India at the Oval. India lead 1-0 and England are desperately short of a few of those special things. Having not lost a Test series at home since 2001, Moores doesn't want to be the coach responsible for ending that record. It's been a lively encounter, but as Moores says as he takes a seat at the back of the Pavillion Stand, it might well come down to who makes the best start on this pitch, which looks to be in perfect nick. So far in the series England's first innings displays have failed to ignite. How does Moores's theory of positivity extend to consistently failing batsmen? How many Test Matches does an out of form batsman get to play before he's dropped?

"I don't think there's a set number," he says. "Each individual case is different. One of the jobs of everyone in the set-up here is to build belief and confidence in each person. Without it you can't play. If I was going to speak to a set of businessmen and I didn't believe in what I was going to say, it would be very hard for me to do it. It's the same when you walk out in a Test Match: when you fail or you get out, that belief is attacked and it can put you under pressure. Our job is to build belief, keep it strong."

Belief seems to have deserted Ian Bell—and perhaps Strauss too, although the latter has begun to fight back with a series of more productive, if slightly unconvincing, spells at the crease. Before the Oval, Bell's series average was just 15. There's no questioning either batsman's ability, but lack of confidence can be debilitating. Moores cites Strauss's relative return to form as a good example of giving batsmen the opportunity to play their way back into favour. "Strauss has had some criticism, but he's had a 96, a 55, a 70-odd—that's testament to his character as a player. Bell, in some ways, I think, has been a little bit unlucky in this series. He's had two played-on in the first Test." This seems to encapsulate the Moores approach.

Maintaining an expectation of support, whether players are in form or struggling to find it, is key. "What we have done really well over the last few years is support the players enough so they know if they do have one bad game they're not going to be shelled," he says. That said, it's a fine line between protecting a player's confidence and judging by results: an approach which Moores also favours. "I often say to the lads, 'we sell cars: the cars you sell are wickets and runs, the more you sell the better you do. You are being judged on it, and you've got to do it on a daily basis.'"

In the end, neither team manages to sell enough cars: the match ends in a draw and India clinch a 1-0 series win. Just as Moores predicted, winning the toss proves vital as India's middle-order galacticos blow England away in the first innings. England manage a marginally improved performance—Bell with a superb cameo—but if anything bat too conservatively on the last day when a big score is needed to square the series. If Moores is said to favour the positive, why didn't England go for it? The answer appears to be England's place in the ICC world rankings. If England had gone for it and lost, the subsequent 2-0 series defeat would have enabled India to draw level with England, behind leaders Australia. Moores believes hanging on to second is a vital stepping-stone. "Can we hang onto second place," he asks, more than once during our interview, "and can we use that to make a move on Australia?" The England coach, it seems, desperately wanted something positive to take away from his first Test defeat.

It's not been easy slipping into Fletcher's chair. Despite the huge number of players, past and present, lining up to endorse Moores's appointment, the new boss's lack of experience will count against him if England contrive to lose the next series in Sri Lanka. This experience is growing, however. The on-field disciplinary problems that plagued the second Test against India will have tested his managerial capabilities to the limit. Attempting to keep a straight face while dealing with questions from international journalists about jelly beans can't have been easy—and almost certainly wasn't part of his media training course. But stray confectionery aside, England's dalliance with a more aggressive attitude provided the main talking point: even the normally docile Chris Tremlett seemed fired up.

Moores has made no secret of his desire for a tougher, more unforgiving England, especially with the ball. But he feels his views have been distorted by the competitiveness shown by both teams at Trent Bridge. "The aggression thing has been a big topic of conversation but not anywhere near the same level in the England dressing room as it has been outside it," he says. "When you play top flight sport, it is played with some of your basic instincts: it's a bit of a scrap, you against someone else. There's no grey area, there's a winner and there's a loser. When that happens, people are going to tap into some of those base instincts, aggression being one of those, because it can put people under pressure."

The key is finding the right balance. "We've seen things in the [second] Test get a bit out of hand," he admits. "All I can say is that we want to play hard and fair and within the spirit of the game. England teams in the past have been criticised for being a bit tame. In the [2005] Ashes we saw a very aggressive team, people like Harmison and Flintoff putting the opposition under pressure. The public liked it, the press liked it." But aggression is nothing without control—as Moores says: "The best aggression is by deed, not by word."

There's a lot of cricket to be played before England's next shot at regaining the urn, in 2009. By then, some of the younger players in Moores's thoughts—Luke Wright, Stuart Broad—will have notched up valuable experience at the ICC World Twenty20, in South Africa. Moores says the shortest version of the game is useful for determining whether or not players have the aptitude for Test cricket—more stats, no doubt, for his trusty laptop to store. Whether or not he's working on an ultimate USP, something similar, perhaps, to the reverse swing of the 2005 Ashes series, he won't say. "This side's still evolving so I don't think it's quite developed some sort of uniqueness yet. In 2005 the bowling unit had a fantastic series where they not only attacked with the new ball but they also got some reverse swing with the old ball, and bowled at real pace. If you do get something like that, which makes you unique, you want to keep it under wraps."

Can we overtake Australia? "Players need enough ability but they also need the character and the attitude to be successful," he says. "I think if we're going to challenge ourselves to become the best team in the world we're going to need players who have a strong mental attitude and are committed to going the extra yard." He understands what's expected of him. "Everyone knows where we want to go, it's now about finding the route we're going to take."

Peter Moores appeared courtesy of Vodafone, official sponsor of the England Cricket Team.