Cricket: England have moved swiftly to appoint Peter Moores as successor to departing head coach Duncan Fletcher. Fletcher's resignation was announced yesterday after England were dumped out of the World Cup.
Fletcher will stand down after Saturday's final World Cup Super Eights match with hosts West Indies.
Moores, 44, has been head of England's academy since 2005 and was widely tipped to take over. The ECB had hinted that any appointment would be temporary but the board have decided to give him the job permanently.
"ECB has developed a contingency and succession plan for all key management positions. Peter has been identified for some time as a leading candidate as a future England head coach," ECB chief executive David Collier said in a statement.
"He is highly respected as an innovative and inspiring coach and is an ideal person to accept this appointment."
Moores was a wicketkeeper for Sussex and became player-coach in 1998. He coached Sussex to their first Championship title in 2003 and his achievements led to him replacing Australian Rod Marsh as director of the England academy in 2005.
"It is an honour to have been appointed as England head coach and to succeed Duncan Fletcher, who has been an outstanding coach of the England team," Moores said.
"The challenge of this new role excites me and I look forward to meeting up with the players on their return to the United Kingdom and to leading England to success in both Test and one-day cricket."
He begins his new job on May 1st with England's first home test against West Indies starting on May 17th.
Fletcher, 58, took England to second in the test rankings and will be best remembered for inspiring the side to a 2-1 home Ashes series win over Australia in 2005.
But a 5-0 mauling in Australia in the return series at the turn of the year and a miserable World Cup left his position untenable.