BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (Reuters) - Captain Michael Vaughan's future as one-day skipper looked less secure after England's cricket chief failed on Thursday to confirm he would continue in the role.

England, who announced coach Duncan Fletcher's resignation on Thursday, were dumped out of the World Cup by South Africa on Tuesday after a dismal tournament.

The 32-year-old Vaughan, who has never scored a one-day international century, had a woeful time with the bat which contributed to England's failure.

Asked by Reuters if Vaughan would still be one-day skipper after Saturday's final World Cup match with West Indies, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman David Morgan was cautious.

"Michael Vaughan is the England captain. I talked with the chairman of selectors (David Graveney) this morning and the selectors wish him to lead the side into the West Indies test series," Morgan told a news conference.

"That may not answer your question but it gives you a lot of information."

England face West Indies in the first test at Lord's on May 17. Their first home one-dayer is against West Indies on July 1

Vaughan, who has said he would not retire from limited overs internationals, was not expected to lose the one-day captaincy because he has been out for a year with knee trouble and was still feeling his way back in the World Cup.

There are also few other obvious candidates to take over after Andrew Flintoff was stripped of the World Cup vice captaincy following late-night drinking earlier in the tournament. Batsman Paul Collingwood could be one choice.

Reuters

Peter Moores has been appointed as the new England coach, less than 24 hours after the ECB announced the resignation of Duncan Fletcher. He will take over from May 1.

It had been expected that the ECB would appoint a temporary replacement while it took time to find Fletcher's longer-term replacement, and so today's announcement caught many by surprise.

"The ECB has developed a contingency and succession plan for all key management positions," David Collier, the board's chief executive said. "Peter has been identified for some time as a leading candidate as a future England head coach. He led Sussex to domestic success and is one of the highest qualified coaches in world cricket.

"He has worked since 2005 with the National Academy programme and has led tours with the England A Team. He is highly respected as an innovative and inspiring coach and is an ideal person to accept this appointment."

Moores, who had been widely touted in the media as Fletcher's likely successor, said: "It's an honour to have been appointed as England head coach and to succeed Duncan Fletcher, who has been an outstanding coach of the England team. The challenge of this new role excites me and I look forward to meeting up with the players on their return to the United Kingdom and to leading England to success in both Test and one-day cricket."

Moores, 44, coached Sussex in 2003 to their first Championship title in 164 years. He succeeded Rod Marsh as director of the National Academy in 2005.

Cricinfo.com