Paul Downton sacked as managing director of England cricket team

Downton sacked as managing director of England cricket team

In the last two years, the England team has faced a lot of problems with the Kevin Pietersen saga still continuing. But, now the team has faced a big setback after their managing director, Paul Downton was sacked on Wednesday evening by the new England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive, Tom Harrison, after only 14 months in the job.

Downton is held accountable for disastrous performance in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 and played a key role in the highly controversial decision to axe star batsman Kevin Pietersen from the national team after England got whitewashed in 2013-14 Ashes.

“The existing England team set-up will change with immediate effect, with Paul Downton leaving his position as Managing Director of England Cricket,” an ECB statement was quoted in a report from AFP.

“A new leadership appointment, focused on performance will now be created and report directly to the chief executive.”

Harrison, announcing the changes in the England hierarchy said, “The England Cricket Department needs to deliver performance at the highest level and our structure needs to be accountable for reaching the standards we aspire to. The new role we are putting in place will deliver an environment where world class performance is at the heart of everything we do.”

Under Downton, England lost a home Test series to Sri Lanka last season but, after falling behind, recovered to defeat India 3-1 in a five-match series. Harrison, who took up his ECB post in January, had previously spoken of his wish to streamline the national governing body, with Colin Graves agreeing the same.

Downton replaced Hugh Morris in October 2013, shortly before the humiliating Ashes whitewash. His departure comes as positives for England captain Alastair Cook, who was sacked as One-Day International (ODI) skipper and dropped from the World Cup squad ahead of England’s warm-up campaign.

England then saw a miserable World Cup campaign, failing to beat a Test nation, and defeating only Scotland and Afghanistan in the group stages. Head coach Peter Moores saw a lot of criticism but got a backing from Downton for his second spell, as the latter hailed him as the “coach of his generation”.