Sport IN Uae – 5Uae.com

Dubai – You are not likely to find Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores eating at the same dinner table, at least in the near future. But despite their infamous fallout a couple of months ago, the former England coach hasn’t allowed his personal sentiments to cloud his professional opinion of the dashing middle-order batsman.

Pietersen, who surrendered the England captaincy as a result of his squabble with Moores, has been enjoying a purple patch against the West Indies in the Caribbean. His quickfire century on the final day of the final Test almost helped England tie the series 1-1, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Moores. “[Kevin’s] a fantastic cricketer, there’s no doubt about that,” Moores, who is in the UAE for the Emirates Airlines ProArch Trophy in his new role as Lancashire coach, told XPRESS.

“To be fair, I thought he gave England a great chance in that last Test because of the way he played. Him and Matt Prior had a great partnership and showed real urgency.”

Positive move

Moores was also impressed by the leadership of Andrew Strauss who succeeded Pietersen. “Andrew is a really solid man.

He’s a very level-headed man. He has done a great job with the bat and had a great series and shown that it hasn’t affected how he played.

He’s got a good cricket brain. He’ll be looking to build on that and build his team for the season ahead.” Moores also believed England had plenty of positives to take from their Test match performances into the one-day series which begins tomorrow.

“England will come out of that Test series feeling they played a lot of good cricket but didn’t get any results from it. They’ll be disappointed about that, but they got to bounce back and will be looking to come back strongly in this one day series,” said the former Worcestershire wicketkeeper. Asked if he has left the door open to a return to the England fold in the future, Moores replied: “At the moment I’m not thinking about that.

I just got a new job at Lancashire. That’s still in my thoughts. [I’m just] two weeks into the job and it’s my first time away with the lads so I got to get stuck in and get to know all of them. “Lancashire is a big county. They want success so I’m looking forward to helping them get that.”

In terms of distance at least, it might not compare with a triathlon. But judging by the triumphant faces that crossed the finish line in the inaugural Salomon Thule Biathle Middle East Championships at the Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort Marina, that hardly mattered.

 Already an established event internationally, the Biathle requires competitors to run, swim and then round it off with another run of the same distance as the initial running leg. The unique sport’s governing body, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) believes its appeal lies in the “relatively short distances” that comprise the three legs which make it less demanding on athletes.

And that was especially highlighted by Niels Oluf Lausen, who won the boys under-16 event despite being on the sidelines for more than a year due to knee injury. “I’m quite happy, because I’ve been out of action for one and a half years owing to injuries to both my knees.

So this gives me a lot of confidence,” said the 14-year-old Dane. Lausen’s satisfaction was enhanced having beaten members of the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union under-16 squad to the finish.

“When I saw the rugby players, I said ‘Oh, oh!’ because they looked pretty fit. “But [as it turned out] that’s not the only factor that’s important,” he said. It was not too disappointing for the rugby squad who not only got a good workout but also managed to raise a decent sum of money for their forthcoming tour of China.

The newly formed Arabian Gulf Swimming Academy was also well represented and some of its members pleasantly discovered that their talents extend beyond the pool.

“A lot of us can’t really run too well but it was a great experience to do both,” said a smiling Sophie Radd who cruised to the girls under-16 title in 11min 14sec. Radd’s club teammate Krista Ceplitis, who won the girls under-10 competition, said she found the event “pretty interesting”.

As for the UIPM, the response to the event has left them planning for bigger things in the future.

“We are looking forward to organising a tournament which will be part of the World Tour next March and hopefully a World Championship in November,” said Mihail Kouzev, a Middle East representative of the UIPM.

“It’s been a great start and our aim is to get more local schools on board and encourage more people to do this unique sport,” he added.