subject: Pietersen Stepped Down From Captaincy [print this page] English cricket has been plunged into turmoil following the reported departure of captain Kevin Pietersen and coach Peter Moores.
Both are understood to have stepped down from their posts though it seems that they jumped before they were pushed after an emergency meeting of the board of the England and Wales Cricket Board last night.
Pietersen, who succeeded Michael Vaughan as England captain just five months ago, is understood to have wanted the ECB to replace Moores before the start of the tour of the West Indies which begins in just two weeks time.
But it now seems that the ECB were unwilling to be seen to be dancing to Pietersen's tune and they were prepared to take a tough stance with the Hampshire batsman.
Instead Pietersen is understood to have announced his resignation upon his return from a safari holiday today and Moores, who succeeded Duncan Fletcher just 19 months ago, has also quit though his position had become untenable.
Opening batsman Andrew Strauss has emerged as favourite to become England's third Test batsman in six months with former Worcestershire director of coaching Tom Moody now a strong candidate to become coach though not before the Test series against West Indies in May.
Moody, who previously coached Sri Lanka, is currently director of cricket at Western Australia and he has stated that he would like to focus his efforts on the remainder of their Australian season. Moody is contracted to Western Australia to the middle of 2010.
Former Zimbabwe batsman Andy Flower, currently England's batting coach, is expected to be offered the role of caretaker coach for the West Indies.
Warwickshire's director of coaching Ashley Giles had been suggested as a possible caretaker coach but his lack of coaching experience and friendship with Pietersen are believed to have weekend his case.
Pietersen began his captaincy in spectacular style with victory over South Africa in the final npower Test at the Brit Oval and then followed up with a 4-0 drubbing of the Proteas in the limited-overs campaign.
But things turned sour during a shambolic week in Antigua which saw England trounced in the Stanford Super Series US Dollar 20million showdown.
Although both Pietersen and Moores earned praise for the decision to resume the tour of India early last month following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, signs that all was not well on the playing front came when the tourists failed to defend a 387-run target in the opening Test in Chennai.
It is understood that Pietersen was already concerned about Moores' coaching methods prior to the decision on December 29 not to recall Michael Vaughan for the tour of the West Indies - a move that Pietersen was pushing for.
Moores was appointed in 2007, since when England have only won Test series against New Zealand and West Indies while losing to India and South Africa.
