KP Vs Moores - Moores set to go?

Interesting headlines on Cricinfo - wonder if Hugh Morris can sort this out after talking the team into going back to India. Seems KP may have offered an ultimatum. Moores was already on thin ice after poor results although the performances in India were quite an improvement. Not sure I'd have picked Vaughan to play but Moores did seem to go behind KP's back but that's the sort of politics people of limited ability play to get on. Moores is a counties boy much-loved by the ECB but KP's world currency is very high. Perhaps Vaughan could have been offered a consultancy role in WI but seems Vaughan thinks Moores is a snake as well.

Personally I'd fire Moores now to give us good prep time ahead of the Ashes so we can get a coach in that understands international cricket. Preferably someone that drops Ian Bell.

I agree that Moores should go, forget the details of the situation. KP doesnt want him as coach so he will end up going, best to do it now so we have enough preparation time for The Ashes.

If Beefy would do it I would like to see him in as some from of coach. Botham knows what it is like to play at the highest level whereas Moores was a decent first class player at best.

Why would Botham want it? He's got a pretty cushy job at Sky Sports where he gets to turn up, say his piece and get his money. The pressure of suddenly diving into a coaching job - and not just a coaching job, but the England job - seems like a massive gamble for all involved.

To be frank, I dont think Botham would be up to it even if he did want the job. He tends to spout of a lot of nonsense on commentary if you ask me, and if this is indicative of his cricketing knowledge then he would be a shocking coach. He wasnt very successful as England captain, I think of him of a naturally gifted player who didnt really have to think too much about his game, not suited to captaincy or coaching IMO, much like Freddie.

Pietersen Quits as Captain. No support from the team on the Moores episode

Pietersen Quits as Captain. No support from the team on the Moores episode

I wouldn't say it's "no support", rather "not unanimous support". From everything I've read, he had the backing of about half the team.

Whoever leaked this to the papers is the cause of this - if it had been kept in-house, a sensible resolution could have been found. Andrew Strauss will almost certainly get the job now, but I wonder what KP's situation will be... will he still a) be selected (almost certainly, I'd have thought), and b) actually want to play?

And people thought the Aussies were in turmoil...

Suggestion on Cricinfo is that Moores has resigned also.

England in crisis

Pietersen and Moores resign

Cricinfo staff

January 7, 2009

Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores have resigned as England's captain and coach respectively, leaving the ECB in complete turmoil following the emergency board meeting that took place on Tuesday evening to discuss the rift in the leadership of the team.

The 12-man board met by teleconference on Tuesday night, raising the possibility that Pietersen, who had not been due back from his holiday in Africa until Thursday, would pay the price for his outspoken views on the future direction of the England team.

Now, however, it appears that Pietersen has taken his future into his own hands, and handed back the role he took on from Michael Vaughan barely five months ago. According to Sky News, Pietersen has given as his reasoning the fact that the ECB did not act quickly enough in responding to his demands over Moores' future.

Andrew Strauss, who captained England in 2006 when Vaughan was out of the team with injury, is the hot favourite to lead them on the tour of West Indies, which begins in exactly a fortnight's time.

Meanwhile, Moores' departure comes as less of a surprise. His position became untenable following the revelations of the rift, and there had been little evidence of progress under his tenure and his credibility had been damaged beyond repair.

Cricinfo understands that Andy Flower, Moores' assistant coach, will be offered the interim role for the West Indies tour, although it remains highly debatable whether he will accept the role in the current circumstances.

Speaking to the News of the World earlier in the week, Pietersen said: "This situation is not healthy, we have to make sure it is settled as soon as possible and certainly before we fly off to the West Indies. Everybody has to have the same aims and pull in the same direction for the good of the England team."

Research conducted by the ECB's director of England cricket, Hugh Morris, however, suggested that Pietersen did not have the steadfast support of his team-mates or the back-room staff. The majority of the England support staff are understood to be supportive of Moores while most of the players are underwhelmed by Pietersen's dramatic intervention, as Steve Harmison demonstrated with his ambivalent comments on Tuesday.

There was also some sympathy towards Moores who, it is understood, was given the authority to select the England captain when Paul Collingwood and Vaughan resigned, and there are those within the set-up who feel that Pietersen had betrayed the coach's trust.

Attitudes towards Pietersen appeared to have hardened at board level. While few are completely convinced by Moores, they did not like the manner in which the captain has attempted to dictate events. As one board member told Cricinfo: "People who want to keep their jobs don't issue ultimatums."

Although Kent's coach, Graham Ford, had been touted as Moore's probable successor, his candidature had been raised with a view to finding a man who could work alongside Pietersen. Ashley Giles is another option, although Warwickshire have warned they may not necessarily keep his job as the county's director of cricket open, should he be asked to fulfil a role as "stop-gap" coach in the Caribbean.

© Cricinfo

Suggestion on Cricinfo is that Moores has resigned also.

 

England in crisis

 

Pietersen and Moores resign

 

Cricinfo staff

 

January 7, 2009

 

Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores have resigned as England's captain and coach respectively, leaving the ECB in complete turmoil following the emergency board meeting that took place on Tuesday evening to discuss the rift in the leadership of the team.

 

The 12-man board met by teleconference on Tuesday night, raising the possibility that Pietersen, who had not been due back from his holiday in Africa until Thursday, would pay the price for his outspoken views on the future direction of the England team.

 

Now, however, it appears that Pietersen has taken his future into his own hands, and handed back the role he took on from Michael Vaughan barely five months ago. According to Sky News, Pietersen has given as his reasoning the fact that the ECB did not act quickly enough in responding to his demands over Moores' future.

 

Andrew Strauss, who captained England in 2006 when Vaughan was out of the team with injury, is the hot favourite to lead them on the tour of West Indies, which begins in exactly a fortnight's time.

 

Meanwhile, Moores' departure comes as less of a surprise. His position became untenable following the revelations of the rift, and there had been little evidence of progress under his tenure and his credibility had been damaged beyond repair.

 

Cricinfo understands that Andy Flower, Moores' assistant coach, will be offered the interim role for the West Indies tour, although it remains highly debatable whether he will accept the role in the current circumstances.

 

Speaking to the News of the World earlier in the week, Pietersen said: "This situation is not healthy, we have to make sure it is settled as soon as possible and certainly before we fly off to the West Indies. Everybody has to have the same aims and pull in the same direction for the good of the England team."

 

Research conducted by the ECB's director of England cricket, Hugh Morris, however, suggested that Pietersen did not have the steadfast support of his team-mates or the back-room staff. The majority of the England support staff are understood to be supportive of Moores while most of the players are underwhelmed by Pietersen's dramatic intervention, as Steve Harmison demonstrated with his ambivalent comments on Tuesday.

 

There was also some sympathy towards Moores who, it is understood, was given the authority to select the England captain when Paul Collingwood and Vaughan resigned, and there are those within the set-up who feel that Pietersen had betrayed the coach's trust.

 

Attitudes towards Pietersen appeared to have hardened at board level. While few are completely convinced by Moores, they did not like the manner in which the captain has attempted to dictate events. As one board member told Cricinfo: "People who want to keep their jobs don't issue ultimatums."

 

Although Kent's coach, Graham Ford, had been touted as Moore's probable successor, his candidature had been raised with a view to finding a man who could work alongside Pietersen. Ashley Giles is another option, although Warwickshire have warned they may not necessarily keep his job as the county's director of cricket open, should he be asked to fulfil a role as "stop-gap" coach in the Caribbean.

 

© Cricinfo

Hugh Morris and Giles Clarke must also surely resign or must be put under severe pressure to do so as they picked Moores in the first place. What a mess, Moores should have followed Vaughan out of the door in the summer and a very poor record with some talented players. Moores was an average counties brownoser, typical of the sort of person that gets on at the ECB.

Hope Strauss can take us forward and that it doesn't impact on his new-found form with the bat. We really need KP to bat well for us and hopefully the ECB can show some man-management for once.

What a mess!

Will KP carry on in the team?

The ECB manage to make saints management look acceptable!

It gets better (or worse) ECB say they have no knowledge of resignations!! They say Pietersen stated he was not prepared to tour the West Indies under the present structure.

Pietersen contacted (by someone - not ECB) but he was not prepared to discuss it whilst his mind in the present state.

KP needs England.

He has to be playing test cricket or the KP brand is nothing.

I can't see him being a mercenary , playing 20/20 all over the world.

What a fvck up. I think you're right though Hatch. Make's no sense for KP to jump ship competely just as the ashes are coming up, for personal reasons if nothing else. I wonder if both being sacked was the only way the ECB could go for now (ie they can't be seen as being dictated to by players) and then after a suitable penance KP will be back as captain in the future.

Only problem with that is who is captain now... and can the avoid being a lame duck stand-in until the messiah returns...?

Like others have said, just when the Aussies look on the way down, we self-destuct in classic fashion.

I think the role of the head coach in international cricket is negligible. Andy Flower deals with what little coaching the batsmen need, and Otis Gibson does the same with the bowling. As far as I see it, the head coach's only functions are to man-manage and help out with occasional tactics (as he's not on the field, it's difficult to impact on the game). This a very similar way to Bagpuss' football coaching technique, and much as I dislike him he's done fairly well (obviously excluding us. ****). Moores is clearly not up to this and, although replacing Fletcher was always going to be difficult, he needed go. Pietersen and Flintoff are our two world class players and, within reason, all should be done to keep them as happy as possible.

I can't help but feel that England need KP more than KP needs England. After all, he could clearly make enough money playing in the IPL even if it didn't afford him the respect of Wisden. Some of the old crusties at the ECB need to pull their heads out of their arses and realise that Flintoff and KP are the only two players guaranteed to play all forms of cricket, and Freddie's already been blacklisted for the Fredalogate. Strauss is being suggested, ffs. He doesn't make the fifty or twenty over squads and it's only a year since he was one innings away from being dropped from the tests too.

Pietersen and Flintoff are our two world class players and, within reason, all should be done to keep them as happy as possible.

Even more of a problem when the pair of them hate each other...

Press conference at 6.

KP could concentrate on winning the championship with Hampshire :-)

He has just said he fully intends to be part of England's tour of the West Indies - SkySportsNews

Difficult to know who they will choose as captain now. Bad job to have.

Difficult to know who they will choose as captain now. Bad job to have.

Ian Bell :-)

KP could concentrate on winning the championship with Hampshire :-)

This I could agree on!

Well thats me told then!

What a mess, appears that he did not have the backing of a fair amount of the players so I can entirely understand how the ECB have reacted, although the way it has been handled is a shambles.

I was interested in Steve Grants comment about Freddie and KP so I did a little reading and it does appear Flintoff is in the frame for one of the guys who did not back Pietersen. There were comments about the tactics in Chennai and it appears they were following two different plans, on KP and one Moores. So it seems perhaps that the players felt Moores had more nouse then Kev. I would be interested to know more about the Freddie's problems with KP though, because the way I read it, it sounds like the situation has been around for a while but I wasn't able to find any specific details.

I was interested in Steve Grants comment about Freddie and KP so I did a little reading and it does appear Flintoff is in the frame for one of the guys who did not back Pietersen. There were comments about the tactics in Chennai and it appears they were following two different plans, on KP and one Moores. So it seems perhaps that the players felt Moores had more nouse then Kev. I would be interested to know more about the Freddie's problems with KP though, because the way I read it, it sounds like the situation has been around for a while but I wasn't able to find any specific details.

I don't think it's a case of the players feeling Moores had more nouse than KP, rather that they just felt KP went about things in completely the wrong way and with dreadful timing as well.

As far as I can see, the problems between Freddie and KP are (predictably) ego-related. For years, Freddie was top dog, particularly among the press, and now this ****y upstart from South Africa has come in and taken his crown away.

As far as I can see, the problems between Freddie and KP are (predictably) ego-related. For years, Freddie was top dog, particularly among the press, and now this ****y upstart from South Africa has come in and taken his crown away.

I think it's been obvious for a long while that they don't get on, although this situation seems to have intensified it. I've always thought it was more to do with their personalities clashing. I know it's difficult to tell, but Freddie seems a fairly laid back player, who is driven by the team doing well. He's also very sporting for an International cricketer, for example the 2005 Ashes. Pietersen seems to be more personally motivated, although obviously if he does well, so does the team. He is very single minded; choosing to uproot and come to England/delivering an ultimatum to the ECB. Whatever the cause, if they can't keep it professional, then it needs sorting ASAP.

Still can't see how Struass can captain when he's not in 66% of the teams.

Warney - No thanks.

That would just be ridiculous.

Having read all the accounts, Flintoff seems to be deeply implicated in the divisions, along with his 'lap dogs' Harmison and Cook (and also Prior, God help us).