What The Papers Say About The England Captaincy
Pietersen - the obvious choice.
Kevin Pietersen, Kevin Pietersen, Kevin Pietersen - simple as. There simply is no one else and Fleet Street are more than willing to admit it...
'Once the national selector, Geoff Miller, and Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, decided between them that the England captaincy should revert to unification in its twin forms, there was only ever going to be one serious candidate for the job. Paul Collingwood might have been up for it but he has always seemed a figure teetering on the brink of the Test team, and his removal from the one-day captaincy (a sacking, in spite of assertions to the contrary, is what it surely was) knocked it on the head in any case.
'Of the others whose hats might be in the ring, Andrew Strauss, who has led the team with success in Tests, is not part of the one-day side; there is a total exclusion zone round the job as far as Andrew Flintoff is concerned; Alastair Cook is a fringe one-day player at best; and Rob Key is not considered as a batsman and particularly not as a one-day player. There simply is nowhere to turn but to Kevin Pietersen. When Michael Vaughan threw him the ball and asked him to bowl the closing overs of the third Test, he probably knew then that he was handing over the baton.
'It will be fun anyway. Even the toss at The Oval on Thursday, between Pietersen, a fellow for whom the South African captain has little time, and Smith himself, whom Pietersen has referred to as a "muppet", should have the tension of a pre-fight weigh-in. Perhaps they should pose nose-to-nose.' - Mike Selvey, The Guardian
'Kevin Pietersen emerged from crisis talks with coach Peter Moores to accept the England captaincy after Michael Vaughan's tearful resignation brought an end to his five-year reign.
'The South African-born batsman's relationship with Moores has been strained in recent months, so much so that the pair held a hasty clear-the-air meeting before Pietersen accepted the leadership role.
'It is understood they have agreed they can work together despite differences in their approaches to the game and Pietersen will be unveiled as England skipper in all forms of the game, Paul Collingwood having stepped down as captain of the one-day side.' Paul Newman and Chris Foy, The Daily Mail.
'He is extremely ambitious and would enjoy the even higher profile it gave him. The extra responsibility could bring more out of him, but it could have a detrimental effect too. Pietersen was widely criticised for the shot he played on 94 at Edgbaston, when he was caught at long on attempting to reach his hundred with a six. The captaincy may stop him batting in such an adventurous way but it would come at a price; Pietersen's Test batting average was at its highest when his strike rate was. He is at his best when he is being positive.
'It would, however, be hard for him to castigate team-mates for batting in such a manner when he does so himself. There is also the matter of his Englishness. At a time when the nationality of an individual has never been so blurred it may seem frivolous to talk about such a subject, but it is relevant. Pietersen may wear a three lions and crown tattoo on his biceps but in an interview earlier this year he spoke of English people as "you".
'Men of South African decent - Tony Greig and Allan Lamb - have captained England, but their reasons for moving here were not as calculated. Pietersen's decision to come to England was career-driven. It was the place where he could capitalise most on his amazing talent.
'It is this drive that has made him the player he is, but such a single-minded attitude has not endeared him to all of his team-mates. Pietersen joined Hampshire in 2004 with few of his former colleagues at Nottinghamshire having a good word for him, and there are several players in the England dressing room who tolerate rather than warm to him. Pietersen has the energy and personality to do the job, and he could prove an inspired selection. It could, however, go the other way.' - Angus Fraser, The Independent.
'The one player who has long been viewed as an England captain of the future is Alastair Cook. Indeed, since he came into the England side, the ECB has been looking to develop Cook's leadership skills, arranging a meeting with Mike Brearley last year. "He was very interesting," Cook said. "We chatted about how to handle different personalities - he had to deal with the Bothams and the Gowers - and different situations."
'But Cook cannot be sure of his place in the one-day side either and, with the next Ashes series less than a year away, this change of captaincy has probably come too soon for the 23-year-old. That said, he is 16 months older than Graeme Smith was when he first led South Africa and, with 33 Test caps, has played 25 more matches. He has played only nine Tests fewer than Pietersen and is a more consensual, less abrasive character. The signs are, however, that Cook will have to wait his turn.' - John Westerby, The Times.
'Pietersen is not just the best choice; he is the only choice. No one else in the country can be guaranteed a place in both the Test and one-day teams, with no worries about form or fitness. This is a sad indictment of the English game, but it is unfortunately the case.
'The one man who has kept below the radar in all this is the coach, Peter Moores. Since taking over from Duncan Fletcher, Moores has come across as a back-room facilitator, but there has been little evidence thus far that he has the vision and ingenuity of his predecessor.
'While Vaughan has leapt overboard, bravely accepting responsibility for England's shortcomings this summer, Moores sails on.
'It now seems unlikely that he will be deposed before next summer's Ashes series, purely on the grounds of continuity. But his results must start to improve if he is not to be remembered - like Steve McClaren and Brian Ashton - as an over-promoted No 2.' - Simon Briggs, The Telegraph.
'Vaughan should have waited. There is one Test match left in the current series. England are 2-0 down and cannot now get back on terms. But they can use the final match to restore a bit of the collective pride that went missing at Edgbaston on Saturday evening, and it was Vaughan's responsibility to help them achieve it. Using a Pyrrhic victory at The Oval to minimise the humiliation of a lost series is a phenomenon associated with the bad old days but it would have been better than nothing.
'Now it will be some other poor bugger's job. And inevitably, assuming that the selectors make the appointment with an eye to the future, the man appointed captain for the final Test will be caught between two imperatives. In the short term he must help the current England squad to save face against a rampant South Africa. In the longer term he will want to lay the foundations of his own tenure and of a new era for the team.
'To give the selectors only 24 hours to pick the right man to lead England, not just into the match at The Oval but through the winter and on to next summer's Ashes series, would make an unreasonable demand of any group, never mind this callow bunch. That is why Vaughan's decision, however emotional it may have been, was a selfish one: he should have accepted the need to end his captaincy at the most appropriate time. Yesterday's proclamation, with its note of despair, ends his own torment but helps nobody else.' - Richard Williams, The Guardian.