It is probably the longest period of notice anyone has ever worked in professional sport. Peter Moores' appointment as the next director of the National Academy was announced on April 14 - the second day of the season.

Moores could have been forgiven if he had let his mind wander in the intervening five months to the next stage of his career. But no one with an interest in Sussex cricket, least of all those closest to him in the dressing room, expected it to happen.

In fact, Moores regarded it as a challenge of its own to make sure he kept his eye firmly on the ball at Hove. Of course there have been occasional visits to Loughborough but meetings with ECB management about the Academy have always taken place on home turf.

Only when the squad was announced ten days ago did he allow himself to seriously contemplate what lies ahead now his long association with Sussex is over.

And only last Sunday, as he held aloft the third trophy secured during his eight years as coach, did he realise just what he would be missing after 20 years at Hove as player and then as the most successful coach in the county's history.

There were many emotional goodbyes and when he points the car out of the County Ground for the last time the boot will be laden with keepsakes and momentoes, not least the "This is Your Sussex Life" book containing countless messages of support from the cricketers he played alongside and then worked with.

At the start of the season, before he had even been interviewed for the England job, Moores predicted that Sussex would win two trophies this season. He was right, if you count the Second XI's one-day success.

He would dearly have loved to have signed off with a second Championship in three years and in moments of quiet reflection will feel that they should. Sussex were the best side in the eyes of several rival captains and seven wins out of nine in the second half of the summer is a measure of just how well they finished.

What is undeniable is that Moores has left Sussex cricket as strong as it has ever been in their long history. Even the old and not so old-timers attending a players reunion at Hove on Sunday - many of whom have played in fine sides in the past - would find it hard to disagree.

They will play in the top division in both competitions for the first time in 2006, three of their players will represent England this winter and Moores' successor Mark Robinson will start the new season with an enviably balanced squad.

For Moores the biggest challenge has always been the next one but he allowed himself to reflect on what he has left behind before contemplating what lies ahead.

"Of course I will miss Sussex, it is a special club with special people and I will always regard it as home," he said.

"I've had eight fantastic years as coach and I like to think I leave the club in a strong position to keep improving. I'm going but Mark Robinson and Chris Adams are staying to make sure that's what happens and don't underestimate Robbo - he's ready for the job now.

"I think one of the nicest things is when people outside recognise what we have achieved and what is now in place here. Yorkshire are one of the biggest counties in the country so to hear their coach David Byas tell me that they see us as a blueprint to follow is enormously satisfying."

He will clear his desk and say his last goodbyes next week before heading north.

Wife Karen and their two children are already living in a quiet Leicestershire village and settling into new routines.

Now Moores is ready to do the same and happy that there is not a better time to be taking on one of the most important jobs in English cricket.

"Our game is buzzing at the moment because of the Ashes success but what's happening has been coming for four or five years," he said.

"Things like central contracts and two divisions have helped increase the intensity levels in our domestic cricket and with it the skill levels.

The pool of talent becoming available to England is getting bigger all the time. My predecessor Rod Marsh has done a fantastic job and instilled a very strong work ethic which is something I think I brought to the work I've done at Sussex.

"The facilities at Loughborough are the best in the world, everything is there to help players improve their games and reach the very top if they want to grab that opportunity.

"As for me, I want it to become a place where excellence is regarded as standard so that when they get the chance to play at the top level nothing is going to shock them, they will have been prepared for every challenge which is thrown at them."

Funny that. I seem to remember him saying something similar eight years ago.

Of course there will always be a place in Moores' heart for Sussex and he will keep a close eye on what happens at Hove. But any future conversations between him and Robinson will be strictly on a coach-to-coach basis. One thing is certain. Robinson will have been a huge success if he can look back at the end of his time with the same sense of a job well done as his predecessor.