Skip to content

Peter Moores insists England have moved on from the Kevin Pietersen row

England coach Peter Moores
Image: Peter Moores: England coach preparing for Sri Lanka series

Peter Moores insists the England dressing room has moved on from the Kevin Pietersen row as they prepare to take on Sri Lanka.

Moores’ first overseas tour since he was re-appointed as head coach starts with a warm-up game against Sri Lanka A in Colombo on Friday, with the opening contest of the seven-match one-day international series taking place in the same city on Wednesday.

The series is part of England’s build-up to next year’s World Cup and Moores is keen to move on following the furore surrounding the publication of former England batsman Pietersen’s autobiography last month.

Moores, who confirmed he had read the book, said: “Kevin had his view and shared that but we have moved on. At the moment we have got plenty of things to work on and plenty of things to concentrate on, building up to the start of the series on Wednesday.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

England head coach Peter Moores says he wants the players to take responsibility and is looking for the one day side to be more positive with bat and ball.

“We need to focus on what we have to do for this series and looking forward to the World Cup.”

Positive

Moores admits England need to adopt a more positive approach after some indifferent one-day performances in recent years.

“We are trying to move ourselves to be a more positive side, with bat and ball,” he said.

More from Sri Lanka V England, Odi Series 2014

We need to focus on what we have to do for this series and looking forward to the World Cup.
Peter Moores

“As batsmen we want to take every opportunity to score runs and put pressure on the opposition and as a bowling unit, we look to take wickets.

“It’s not a simple process to say we are simply going to go out and whack it and we saw that with the (record-breaking) Rohit Sharma innings. He started slowly then found his form and began hitting it beautifully.

“It’s not complicated. You just have to find your way of doing it as an individual and as a team. By being positive throughout the innings, you put the pressure back on the opposition.

Live One-Day International Cricket

“It’s a tough environment here to do that and there will be times within a game when batters cannot score at a rate they would like to. We have got to understand that and catch up (the run-rate) later.”

Franchise

England batsman Eoin Morgan has suggested a domestic Twenty20 franchise system could help England with the players taking on more international players as a result, and Moores can also see the possible benefits.

“The best players playing against the best players is a good thing. How that fits into our English system is always interesting,” said Moores.

“When internationals play with others it always demystifies them a little bit, which is sometimes a good thing as well.

“I like players to be exposed to different environments, to be able to grow their game. It’s tough for us over the next 12-15 months as we have so much international cricket anyway but it’s something we should look at to maximise our chance of being competitive in all formats.”

Watch the opening ODI between Sri Lanka and England on Wednesday. Coverage gets underway on Sky Sports 2HD at 8am.

Around Sky