In collaboration with Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, Vertu Motors’ latest video sees head coach Peter Moores look back at his astonishing career, as he marks 40-years in the sport.
Former England Head Coach Moores has enjoyed a long and successful career both as a player and coach, having represented Worcestershire and Sussex before retiring in 1998 to guide the south-eastern county to championship titles in 2003 and 2004, and then Lancashire in 2011.
After roles with the England team, the 57-year-old took over as Head Coach at Trent Bridge in 2017, going on to lift trophies on three occasions.
From playing in his backyard with his older brother to playing around the world, Moores reminisced about his childhood and innate passion for the sport.
“If I was to describe the game in a nutshell, for me it’s where I find my passion,” said Moores. “It has been since I walked into practise when I was 10 years old.
“It is a game that's in my blood. It's part of me now and always will be.”
Explaining how he fell in love with the game, Moores recalled: “My eldest brother Tony got into cricket, and we had the backyard and it had an entry at the bottom, which Tony would play with us in there.
“So, when we went to school, they said something about cricket. We already knew about it when nobody else did, so we were quite good.
“That got me going and then I went to a club, Macclesfield Cricket Club, and I just fell in love with the game.”
Moores started his career with Worcestershire, where he established himself as a young and talented wicket keeper. Known to many as ‘Stigsy’, he revealed: “I would have gone anywhere to play” as he remembered his time travelling to the likes of Zimbabwe and South Africa as a pro-player.
“It was six-month contracts,” Moores continued. “So, in the winter you worked anyway, or you went abroad.
“I did all sorts of jobs from postman to all sorts. Then I started coaching in the winters. It’s never changed for me, the draw of watching people get better.”
The video ends with Moores expressing his gratitude to the players and clubs he has had the opportunity to coach in the last 23-years, such as Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, and his “special” time at Sussex and England.
“You come across some exceptional people when you work in elite sports, it is one of the gifts you get back. I was really lucky when I went into the England academy job after Rod Marsh that in that first intake, we had people like Stuart Broad and Alastair Cook, Ian Bell was around, and a lot of these guys went on to play 100 Test matches.
“Stuart is an interesting one because I had seen him when he very first came in. All these years on I’m still coaching him.”
Now at Nottinghamshire, Moores concluded: “I have found this job as enjoyable as any coaching I have ever done.
“I would love to win another championship with this team as would the players, but winning the trophy is not the only thing.
“So, we mainly focus on helping players get more skilful, get more balanced as a player and a bloke, and it's got an energy and a drive about it which is nice to be involved with.”