Pursuing his ambition for something Moor, PJ comes full circle

Four years ago, Ireland's then-head coach Graham Ford spotted a familiar face in the Long Room during their Test against England. Just weeks before, Ireland had played Zimbabwe in a white-ball series in Derry. Peter Moor was among the touring opposition then, leaving Ford to wonder what he was now doing at Lord's, wearing a suit and MCC tie.

One of the many unique features of Lord's is how close MCC members get to the players as they walk out to the field of play. Ford and Moor struck up a conversation. Topics included Moor's Irish passport, which came through his father's side of the family. Three months later Moor, who previously had stints in Ireland playing club cricket, landed in Dublin - this time for good. After earning 78 caps for Zimbabwe, Moor opted to give up playing for the country of his birth in a bid to relaunch his career as an Ireland International.

"I've always loved Ireland as a country and I've loved my visits there but I never thought that there would be a realistic chance of me playing for Ireland," explains Moor. "So when that conversation [with Ford] happened it definitely sparked something inside me."

Fast forward to today and Moor has completed his mandatory three-year stand-down period that the ICC requires of those switching national allegiances. He debuted in Ireland's return to Test cricket away to Bangladesh in April, becoming the 17th man to play Test cricket for two countries. When Ireland faced England at Lord's recently, Moor and Ford had reversed roles.

Ford, now coaching club cricket in Dublin and no longer involved with the national side, was at St John's Wood as a fan, sitting with Moor's family in the stands. Moor had arranged this - his way of paying off a long-term debt, a moment of gratitude for Ford's coaching work during the international hiatus when Moor was not yet Irish-qualified.

"Whenever Fordy threw me balls he would never allow me to pay him for his services," says Moor. "I used to try and ask him and he was very against that. He actually said, 'When you make your debut for Ireland, just give me a ticket'. He was sort of laughing, but I never forgot that. I couldn't get him over to Bangladesh but when I got picked for the Lord's Test it was something I wanted to get done. I really appreciated that he made the effort to come over."

The ICC World Cup Qualifiers represent another full circle moment for Moor. For the first time since debuting for Ireland, he returns to the country of his birth to play international cricket.

It is as good an opportunity as any to reflect on the magnitude of Moor's journey. He prefers not to speak about his reasons for leaving Zimbabwe, saying that he has "nothing bad to say about Zimbabwe cricket" and pointing out that he still has friends in the team.

But he was 29 when he left, and batters tend to peak in their early 30s; a three-year gap at this stage of his career was no small decision. At the time, players in Zimbabwe faced numerous challenges, and Zimbabwe Cricket had recently been suspended by the ICC for government intervention. Now 32, Moor hasn't necessarily missed out on his prime, but there has to be a nagging feeling he both delayed and maybe even shortened his golden years by standing down for so long.

"I was a little bit sad that I was going to miss out on three years of maybe my prime," acknowledges Moor. "But I think in those years playing domestic cricket I worked on my game better than before. When I was playing for Zimbabwe, I don't feel I was as good a batter as I am today.

"Just having that hunger of knowing I'm going to qualify when I'm 32 years old made me work hard. I want to have an extended career, I don't want to play one year and that's the end of me having given up three years at the highest level."

In many ways, Moor's journey is one of pure bad luck. He moved permanently to Ireland in October 2019. The following year, the first season of his international hiatus, the Irish first-class and List A structure was decimated both by Covid and the weather. Domestic first-class cricket hasn't returned to Ireland since.

Moor has mitigated against that by double-jobbing, playing List A for Munster Reds in the Irish summer and using his contacts at home to play all formats for the Mountaineers during Zimbabwe's season. He was the only Irish player with recent red-ball experience when they did return to Tests in March.

"I was very, very lucky that I've been able to do that for the last three years," says Moor. "I'm a big believer that red ball is the most important format. If you can play red-ball cricket and have a good technique, it transfers into white-ball cricket."

Despite playing plenty of domestic white-ball cricket both in Zimbabwe and Ireland, Moor's red-ball experience may have played a role in seeing him initially pigeon-holed as a Test specialist. After qualifying for Ireland last year he was overlooked for a white-ball tour to Zimbabwe in January. Even when injury struck Andrew Balbirnie, Moor was not called up despite already being in Zimbabwe playing domestic games.

"I had a few conversations with Heinrich [Malan, Ireland's current head coach] and he said to me, 'Red ball is where we see you getting your opportunity.' It was a bit frustrating for me because I felt like I could offer something in white-ball cricket - I do actually believe that that's my best format - but I occupied my time and thought if I do get a chance in the red-ball side, I must try and make a big impression."

Moor has subsequently earned his white-ball opportunity for the World Cup Qualifiers. Mirroring the fluctuation in formats, Moor's role in this Irish squad has been in constant flux. He first came into the Test side as a middle order player but ended up opening at Lord's.

In white-ball cricket, he has been a regular opener on the Irish domestic scene, only to move to the middle order at the start of this season at the behest of the Ireland management. That call came despite Ireland's current strength in the middle order and a hole atop the line-up. Moor is used to change in his life, but even he has had to be especially flexible.

"I think I need to, wherever there's an opportunity or a slot, try and be as versatile as possible and take it," says Moor. "In an ideal world I probably want to bat in a fixed position and focus on my role but for now, while I'm still trying to cement my place in different formats, wherever there's an opportunity I'm happy to stick my hand up and do it."

Moor's integration into the Irish side has perhaps been slower than some anticipated, while the off-field problems facing Irish cricket escalated pretty much as soon as Moor joined their system full-time. On the flip side, Zimbabwe have been on the rise since their reinstatement from the ICC suspension in 2019. There have also been strong rumours of Zimbabwe Cricket attempting to lure Moor home in the years before he earned his Ireland debut. Given all these factors, the question has to be asked: did Moor ever question his decision to switch?

"No, never. Once I made the decision - I think I'm quite a principled person - I was dedicated, I had tunnel vision that I wanted to play for Ireland. There were a lot of sacrifices with leaving home. I had a pretty good deal with Zimbabwe Cricket at the time and I don't have anything bad to say about them at all. I had to make quite a brave decision in coming over to Ireland but I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here.

Speaking in Zimbabwe ahead of the upcoming qualifiers, he adds: "The biggest challenge was more off the field stuff. The age I was at, I was 29, I was pretty well settled in Zimbabwe. I had bought my home here, my family was here, my brother had children, my sister was having children. It was a difficult time to leave home in that sense, that was what I struggled with the most.

"But I also had big plans, I wanted to play for Ireland and I still want to play. I want to win games, that's my ambition."

Moor's decision to move cost him the opportunity to represent Zimbabwe during their successful run at the 2022 T20 World Cup. Over the coming weeks in the country of his birth, he may just get the opportunity to make up for it by helping to guide his new nation to this year's showpiece event in India.