Full-time England role for Gooch

The England and Wales Cricket Board have announced that Graham Gooch has been appointed England batting coach on a full-time basis.

The 58-year-old has been working as a consultant batting coach with England since November 2009 but will now take on the role full-time beginning on March 5 as England begin preparations for the Test series against Sri Lanka.

"I am delighted to be taking on the role of England batting coach on a full-time basis," said the former England batsman, who will work closely with all centrally-contracted players as well as other players selected for England squads.

"I will now have the opportunity to spend a lot more time with the players and other coaches both in the build-up to series and during the series themselves.

"I firmly believe that with the talent we have at the moment within the batting unit and those pressing for places, we can continue to develop and improve as a side, which is a very exciting prospect."

Graham Thorpe will continue in his role as ECB lead batting coach, which involves working with batsmen on the England performance programme and those selected for England Lions, and will aid Gooch in aiming to ensure a smooth transition for batsmen between the England performance programme and the senior side.

England team director Andy Flower said: "Graham has an excellent relationship with our batsmen and is already an important part of our management team, so I am very pleased that he will be joining us on a full-time basis.

"We have a challenging period of cricket ahead of us and I am very much looking forward to continuing to work closely with Graham as we look to improve across all formats of the game."