England’s new coach Peter Moores suffered the first setback to his recruitment drive when Trevor Penney turned down his offer to become England’s first full-time fielding coach.

Moores had recruited Andy Flower to be his batting coach and No 2, and Allan Donald to be his bowling consultant.

Penney, 38, a former Warwickshire batsman and, like Flower, a native of Zimbabwe, would have made up a trio of southern African coaches for the England team.

Penney is understood to have turned down the England offer because he did not want to become branded as a specialist fielding coach.