Farbrace echoes defence of Moores

Paul Farbrace, England's assistant coach, has followed Alastair Cook in praising Peter Moores for laying the groundwork for the team's recent success. Cook paid tribute to former head coach Moores after England's innings victory at Trent Bridge saw them regain the Ashes and Farbrace echoed the sentiment, saying he would "defend him to the hilt".

Moores was sacked in May after the appointment of Andrew Strauss as England's director of cricket. While England experienced a tumultuous year during Moores' second spell as coach, he showed faith in a number of young players who have steadily helped improve the team's fortunes.

His final series in charge was a 1-1 draw in Tests against West Indies but the group stage exit at the World Cup cast an even longer shadow. Moores and Farbrace, who was brought in as assistant at the same time, had six months of 50-over preparation but saw the team fail even to reach the knockout stage after defeat to Bangladesh in Adelaide.

England have made impressive strides in ODI cricket since then, while continuing the Test revival that Moores laid the foundations for after the 5-0 Ashes whitewash in 2013-14. Farbrace said Moores "gave absolutely everything to England" and backed him to do well with Nottinghamshire, where he has been working in a consultant capacity.

"Following Mooresy down the tunnel at Adelaide was horrible. I did not enjoy seeing him take the stick that he did, and I will defend him to the hilt," Farbrace said. "That bloke gave absolutely everything to England. I am so pleased that Cooky mentioned him because he did nothing but work hard for the team. He will still be in touch with the majority of the boys.

"It is no surprise that he has come to Notts and in the time that he has been there he has improved them massively.

"From my point of view, I hated the winter, I hate losing, but I have really, really enjoyed the last few months. But the team will go on long after I am finished with the England team, and be a very exciting team in the future."

Farbrace described England's World Cup as a "disaster" but said it had helped provide the motivation to improve. Farbrace led the team in a thrilling 3-2 ODI victory over New Zealand, before the arrival of Trevor Bayliss as coach, and the feelgood factor established during that series fed into England's dramatic Ashes surge.

"We were all low. I said at the time in Sydney, it wasn't Peter Moores' fault we failed in the World Cup. He did nothing but work his socks off for England cricket. He is an excellent coach and bloke and was a very popular member of our group.

"The decision was taken to change the coach after that World Cup. It was a disaster, there is no getting away from it. We didn't play well. We got blown away in the first game and I don't think we ever recovered. We were all hurting. Your pride takes a hell of a hit. You bump into people on the street and they say 'Oh, you work with the England team, you are rubbish'. It hurts, it really does hurt.

"The last week in Australia was a horrible week for all of us. Players get stung by that criticism. But we came back and the lads just felt it was time to change the way we were playing and our approach to certain things and they have carried that out. And we have seen the improvement."

England's attacking approach, which saw them win the third and fourth Tests against Australia inside three days, was formed in part during the visit of New Zealand, with Farbrace filling an interim role in charge of the side. He pinpointed a counterattacking stand between Joe Root and Ben Stokes on the first day of the first Test of the summer - a game England ended up winning by 124 runs - as the catalyst for what followed.

"Against New Zealand I don't think we set out to be an ultra-attacking team," he said. "It just happened by chance, at 30 for 4 on that first day at Lord's, that Root plays one way, get his singles and scores boundaries, and Stokes came in and whacked it. And all of a sudden the headlines were 'this new England way of playing'. But I think we stumbled across it as opposed to set out to play in that way.

"I think it suits us. You look at the way the middle order play and they are all quite attacking batsmen. Trev keeps telling them to have a positive mindset, because then you are in the best position to play whatever ball is delivered to you - in the best position to leave, defend or hit it."

Farbrace also praised the ethic that has been instilled within the side, of enjoying success as a group. He offered Jason Roy - who continued to attack while opening in the ODIs against New Zealand despite the lack of a significant score - and Moeen Ali adapting to bat at No. 8 in the Test side as examples of the team's needs taking priority, before highlighting Stokes' pivotal display with the ball at Trent Bridge, where his second-innings 6 for 36 sealed the victory that returned the Ashes.

"An interesting relationship has developed between Cooky and Ben Stokes," he said. "Over the last 18 months or so, Stokes has wanted to bowl more and maybe Cooky hasn't always trusted him to bowl so he has had short spells. Stokes knows he has short spells so he has been trying to impress with inswingers, bouncers, yorkers, whatever.

"What we are now seeing, is that Stokes has had a couple of good spells and has been thrown the ball a bit more. So he is getting confidence from Cooky, Cooky is getting confidence in Stokesy, and now he is bowling spells like he did on Friday - a long spell which was needed for the team.

"So the next time we are in that situation, Cooky will have no qualms about chucking Ben the ball knowing that he can do it, and Ben won't feel like he has to prove himself every time he bowls. When players are not trying to prove something to the captain or coaches and just playing the way the team needs them to play, that is a great place for a team to be."