Joe Root backs Jason Gillespie but thanks former coach Peter Moores

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/18/joe-root-england-jason-gillespie-ecb-peter-moores

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Joe Root has given Jason Gillespie a ringing endorsement to be England’s next head coach but has denied picking the Australian as his personal preference, instead choosing to credit Peter Moores for his elevation to vice-captain.

Gillespie is the favourite for the vacant head coach position after masterminding Yorkshire’s Division One title win last season and has been instrumental in Root’s development into a mainstay of the national side, having arrived at Headingley in 2011. Indeed, such has been Root’s consistent improvement at international level that he was named the England and Wales Cricket Board’s cricketer of the year on Monday.

England’s new director of cricket, Andrew Strauss, has confirmed plans to discuss the role with Gillespie, but as yet no formal approach has been made and the ECB’s non-negotiable stance on Kevin Pietersen may prove a stumbling block. Gillespie is an international coaching novice – unlike England’s interim coach Paul Farbrace – but Root does not see that as a stumbling block.

“At Yorkshire he has been fantastic in my development, he took over when we were in Division Two and we’d had a really poor season the year before so the work he has done with the lads is fantastic,” he said. “If he did get it I’m sure he would do a very good job at the highest level too.”

Root, however, backtracked when asked about reports stating he hoped Gillespie is handed the role, instead going no further than backing his ability to succeed should he receive it.

“I think that’s a slight misquote,” Root insisted. “It’s not that I wouldn’t want him there at all. I would love to work with him again, I think he is brilliant to work with but I’m sure he is sick to death of people asking him about it. He is going to have to decide with his family and people close around him and I really hope he makes a decision he is comfortable with going forward.” Gillespie’s coaching stock has been on the rise since guiding Yorkshire out of Division Two in 2012 and he would be a popular choice, not least among the players.

Of the 12-man squad to face New Zealand on Thursday, Root, Gary Ballance and Adam Lyth have benefited from Gillespie’s tutelage at Yorkshire, while Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid and Jonny Bairstow remain on the fringes.

But no one has benefited more than Root. Among Strauss’s first edicts was to remove Ian Bell as Alastair Cook’s right-hand man and promote Root, who has scored 1,135 Test runs at an average of nearly 95 since the start of last summer. Pointedly, however, it is Moores – a popular figure in the England dressing room and widely tipped to thrive in a development role at Loughborough – that Root singled out for praise. “I think [my game] has improved drastically,” he said. “A lot of credit for that has to go to Peter Moores. Over the past year he has definitely got the best out of me along with the rest of the coaching department. He was good to work with, a brilliant coach, he knew how to get the best out of me personally and I really hope he goes on to do other great jobs.”

Root’s promotion means any significant injury to Cook would result in the captaincy as England look to win back the Ashes.

In April, Gillespie told the Guardian he is convinced Root is ready but the 24-year-old hopes it does not come to that.

“That would be devastating,” he added. “[Alastair] has hit some very good form lately and he would be a massive loss to the dressing room but if that opportunity unfortunately came about I would make sure I was ready to go and make sure I had everything in place to make a good start.”

Charlotte Edwards has won the ECB’s women’s award for the second consecutive year – the captain averaged more than 75 in ODIs and nearly 60 in Twenty20 internationals.