In just one day, England cricket lost its captain and its coach. Andrew Strauss will be captain in the interim even as the England and Wales Cricket Board begins its hunt for a new coach.It was quite a googly for English cricket. On Wednesday, England skipper Kevin Pietersen resigned and shortly afterwards the ECB sacked coach Peter Moores. This comes after a much publicised row between the top two men over the structure and selection of the team.In his column in the daily News of the World on January 4, Moores wrote about the tension brewing in the dressing room. "Obviously 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. Everything has to be hunky dory, everybody has to have the same aims and pull in the same direction for the good of the England team."It appears that Kevin Pietersen gave an 'ultimatum' to the ECB saying he was not prepared to tour the West Indies with Moores as the coach. The ECB, meanwhile, took a tough stance and refused to bow down to Pietersen's demand."I have extremely high respect in regard for Kevin Pietersen," said ECB managing director Hugh Morris. "But this has become an impossible situation given the irretrievable breakdown in the relationship between the captain and the coach."Pietersen returned to the UK on Thursday from South Africa, where he was on holiday. He will continue to play for the team.
It's not a good start to the new year for English cricket. While Andrew Strauss will step into the skipper's role immediately, the decision on the coach still remains to be taken. The team, including Pietersen, will leave for the West Indies later this month and England have the all-important Ashes this summer. But first some restructuring needs to be done on the home pitch.
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