The Ashes 2006-07

Gregory resigns as ECB medical officer

Cricinfo staff

October 2, 2006

Dr Gregory has had a tough job keeping England's cricketers fit of late © Getty Images

Dr Peter Gregory, the chief medical officer of the England & Wales Cricket Board, has announced his resignation from a post that he has held since November 2002, and will not be travelling with the squad to Australia this winter.

"Cricket is a passion of mine and I have very much enjoyed my time working with the ECB," said Gregory in a statement. "The role has grown substantially over that period and has now become a full-time position involving a great deal of time away from home, both during the winter and the summer."

Gregory, who has long held ambitions to work in the developing world, intends to volunteer his services to Transmission Partnerships, a charity which principally helps very poor communities in Romania. His departure is the latest high-profile change to the tight-knit set-up that helped England regain the Ashes in 2005. Since then both Troy Cooley, the bowling coach, and Tim Boon, the team analyst, have moved on to new challenges, with Cooley now in charge of Australia's pace attack.

Gregory came in for some criticism earlier this year, with a suggestion that the long-term knee injuries that have ruled both Michael Vaughan and Simon Jones out of the Ashes had been handled badly. But Simon Timson, the ECB's Science & Medicine Manager, said: "We are very grateful to Peter for firmly establishing the role of ECB Chief Medical Officer and for his total commitment to the role and to supporting England cricket teams over a period of nearly four years."

Gregory will continue in his role as Chief Medical Officer up until November 15 and will remain UK-based during this time. Dr Nick Peirce, English Institute of Sport East Midlands Lead Physician, will travel with the England Team to the ICC Champions Trophy.

Kirk Russell will be the Team Physiotherapist for the ICC Champions Trophy and Ashes Test Series and Dean Conway will be the Team Physiotherapist for the ODI Series in Australia and for the World Cup.

There will continue to be full-time massage therapy provision for the Team throughout the winter programme with Bob Bramah fulfilling this role for the ICC Champions Trophy and Mark Saxby undertaking the Australia and World Cup Tours. The ECB will confirm Team Doctor arrangements for the Ashes Tour and the recruitment arrangements for ECB Chief Medical Officer in due course.

© Cricinfo

	Email

The Cricinfo Quiz - India v England special edition just launched Test your knowledge     Fantasy cricket: India v England, Australia v NZ & SA v Bangladesh Enter your teams now     Live scores, news & ball-by-ball commentary on your phone Cricinfo Mobile

Teams

England