Support grows for Pietersen over dispute with Moores

Published on Monday 5 January 2009 22:22

ENGLISH cricket's potentially damaging rift at the top is unlikely to be resolved until Thursday at the earliest.

That is when captain Kevin Pietersen, whose working relationship with coach Peter Moores appears to have broken down just five months into the job, returns from holiday.

Separate talks between Hugh Morris, managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, and Pietersen and Moores were ongoing yesterday – but the situation is likely to call for face-to-face meetings.

The ECB refuses to put a timescale on a resolution, but time is of the essence with the tour of the Caribbean just over a fortnight away.

On Sunday, Pietersen said, in his newspaper column, that the situation was not healthy and that "everybody has to have the same aims and pull in the same direction for the sake of the England team."

Should the board side with Pietersen, as some eminent former players are predicting, it would arguably make him England's most powerful captain in history. No-one has previously been able to dictate who should or should not coach the national team.

Mick Newell, who as director of cricket at Nottinghamshire has first-hand experience of Pietersen and supported his promotion when Michael Vaughan resigned in late summer, said: "You want to be backing the captain, but you set a very dangerous precedent if you over-rule the coach to give the captain what he wants.

"It would be better to get an agreement between them and get on with it, but it being in the public domain now makes that more difficult.

"It's Hugh Morris' job to mediate in all this. But with the stage which this is at, there does not appear much way back.

"Kevin is our best player by a long way, not only the captain, so it's a very difficult situation.

"We have had things like this at county level several times in the last few years, but never at the very top."

The current dynamic in running the national team is unworkable because of a clash of beliefs – and Pietersen had a veiled dig earlier this year when he said the players would be given more rest this winter and concentrate on cricket-specific practice.

Moores' successful stint at Sussex was due to a hard-work and fitness philosophy, ideally suited to the slog of 16 county championship matches in four months.

In direct contrast to predecessor Duncan Fletcher, he is also big on player statistics. But his record in 20 months as coach of England – four Test series defeats out of four against top-six opposition – has left his methods vulnerable to questioning.

"There is a certain type of person that Kevin would respect as a coach," Newell continued. "You either need to have a lot of international experience, or you're looking for a former great cricketer. The captain-coach relationship in cricket is quite a lot more important than in most other team sports. I think you've got a whole respect issue going on."

If the impasse remains and the ECB backs Pietersen by paying off Moores, it will have to do so in the confidence that he will be the man to lead England in the long term.

If the ECB remains unconvinced of his ability to do so, he may get a rap over the knuckles and a return to the ranks – although former chairman of selectors Ray Illingworth has predicted the 28-year-old will win his power struggle.

It is thought that Vaughan's omission from the 16-man squad to take on West Indies in four Tests next month was what led to reports that Pietersen had issued an ultimatum to the ECB, demanding it sacks Moores or risk losing him as captain.

"The captain should have the main say; he has to be the main person," said Illingworth, a successful England captain himself. "If he doesn't have the main say, then he doesn't have the backing of the players when he gets on to the field, and it's very important that he has the backing of the other ten players. The coach and the captain have to be on the same wavelength."

TIMELINE

2007

19 April: England coach Duncan Fletcher resigns.

20 April: Peter Moores, National Cricket Centre director, succeeds Fletcher.

21 May: England draw the first npower Test of the summer against West Indies at Lord's.

18 June: Michael Vaughan resigns as one-day captain.

19 June: Moores celebrates his maiden series win with 3-0 success over the tourists.

7 July: England lose one-day series to West Indies 2-1, after sharing Twenty20 matches.

13 August: England lose their first home Test series in six years, 1-0 to India.

8 September: England complete a 4-3 one-day series victory over India.

13 October: England win a rare one-day series away from home in Sri Lanka.

23 December: England return home from Sri Lanka having lost Test series 1-0.

2008

9 March: England are soundly beaten by New Zealand in the opening Test of the year.

26 March: England complete a 2-1 series win in Napier.

8 June: The Black Caps are comfortably seen off 2-0 in the reverse series.

2 August: South Africa consign England to a third Test series defeat in five.

4 August: Kevin Pietersen appointed Test and ODI captain.

3 September: England complete a 4-0 ODI thrashing of the South Africans.

26 November: England lose curtailed ODI series 5-0 to India.

23 December: After their return to India, England lose one Test and draw the other.