by Our Sports Desk

Peter Moores’s future as England coach looked increasingly bleak yesterday, pending the expected appointment of Andrew Strauss as the national team’s new director of cricket.

The England and Wales Cricket Board issued no comment following reports in the national press yesterday that Moores will be removed once Strauss takes up his position in the coming days.

Moores is in Dublin for the rain-affected one-day international against Ireland — a fixture which seems ever more likely to prove the last of his second tenure.

Strauss, expected to be confirmed in his role early next week, pulled out of his scheduled stint as a Sky summariser and pundit for the one-off match at Malahide CC.

The former Test captain has emerged as the clear front-runner to take up the new position which was created last month when Paul Downton moved aside from his job as the ECB’s managing director.

Sky explained Strauss’s absence from his broadcasting duties with them, when presenter Ian Ward spelled out the open secret to viewers that he is set to rejoin the ECB.

“It is highly likely that he will be the new cricket director and if that appointment does go ahead it will be announced next week,” Ward said.

Should that be confirmed as expected, and result in Moores’s departure, the latter’s second tenure will have lasted barely a year since major changes were made in the aftermath of England’s 2013-14 Ashes whitewash.

In that time, he has overseen just one series victory in any format — against India in Test cricket last summer — and was unable to stop England exiting the World Cup before the knockout stages.

Possible replacements for him include Australians Jason Gillespie and Justin Langer.

The appointment of either would mark a watershed moment for English cricket, recruiting management staff native to their Ashes rivals.