Peter Moores focused on Nottinghamshire job despite links to head coach role with South Africa

Former England coach Peter Moores has made it clear he is focused on helping Nottinghamshire finish the season strongly amid talks him being in the race to become South Africa head coach.

Moores, who will be out of contract at Trent Bridge this summer, said that the reports linking him to the Proteas coach’s position is “paper speculation”.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) decided to sack Ottis Gibson following a poor run at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and appointed Enock Nkwe as an interim coach for South Africa’s tour of India in September-October.

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A former allrounder who played 42 first-class, 38 List A and nine T20 matches, Nkwe most recently served as head coach of Johannesburg-based domestic franchise Highveld Lions. Under his tutelage, the Lions won the CSA T20 Challenge and 4-Day Franchise Series.

While Nottinghamshire have fared well in the limited-overs cricket, the team is currently at the bottom of the points table in the County Championship.

Moores said that he will discuss his future with Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell towards the end of the season.

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“With South Africa, it’s paper speculation. You can’t help that as a coach. Post World Cup there’s movement because it’s the end of an international cycle,” Moores was quoted as saying by nottinghamshire.live.

“There’s nothing in it from my end. I’m focusing on the job here, which is to get our red ball cricket where we want it to be. We’ve been competitive in white ball cricket, but we’re not where we want to be in red ball,” he continued.

“I’ve not looked any further than enjoying working for Notts. The main job today is to move things forward and improve the players,” he concluded.