Kevin Pietersen captaincy and Moores

The first part Kevin Pietersen and the meeting can be read from the link given at the end. This is the next chapter of his autobiography. Kevin Pietersen captaincy and Moores

After the drubbing at the hands of Australia in 2012, KP left Australia a day earlier than the rest of the team. This irked the tabloids who wrote that he arranged his exit from the tour earlier. For his part however, KP says that he does not hang around in Australia after a series is over because the abuse is rather too high to bear. He spoke to Andy Flower who also agreed for him to leave early. On the way from Australia, during the stopover in Dubai, the English newspapers were full of KP vs Flower at the front page. KP called the media manager, Rhian Evans who told him she did not know how it came about but enough people were roaming with journalists after the tour. KP refrains himself from naming anyone.

Next, KP dwells about his captaincy stint. He made his debut under Michael Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher who KP says brought about a revolution in English cricket when they won the Ashes after 17 years. A couple of years later, he became the captain with Fletcher gone and the new coach Peter Moores sworn in. KP did not have the best time with Moores ofcourse. This is known to everyone who followed English cricket or cricket in general during that period. Pietersen gives his account of the events that led to him becoming the captain . He first became the captain of the ODI team by default because Paul Collingwood was banned for 4 games.

Captain by default

Prior to that, his captaincy experience was zero. Clive Rice, whom KP says is a South African legend, got in touch with him and told him to make a big first impression. It must also be mentioned that it was Rice who had a bigger influence of Pietersen relocating to England. Michael Vaughan was still the captain of the Test team when South Africa under Graeme Smith was in England for a Test series.

First Test was drawn with KP scoring in excess of 150 but things went down haywire from then on when South Africa blitzed England and won the series with KP getting out at Headingley in his typical fashion of going for a 6 to get to his hundred. The tabloids were angry and called that shot reckless. By the final Test, the series was gone and Vaughan’s place in the squad came up for questioning. Peter Moores was the coach and it is safe to say that KP disliked him for his methods. Moores was fond of data, strike rates and averages which drove KP to nuts. KP did not have any nice words to say about Moores. Vaughan resigned before the final Test.

Paul Collingwood was the obvious choice because he played both Test and ODIs. Collingwood also dropped himself from the Test and he resigned the ODI captaincy as well. Andrew Strauss was next in line but he wasn’t playing ODI cricket which left KP as the last man standing. KP became the captain and picked Steve Harmison in the team. He wanted Moores to just be a facilitator but Moores was having none of it. He preferred to run the team.

The Moores episode

The final Test was won by England with KP himself scoring a hundred while Moores was making things uncomfortable for him in the dressing room. KP wanted to plan for the long term and steer the team away from the direction Moores was driving them. The Ashes loomed large but before that India was on the way. Next stop was the Indian tour and that was where Moores and KP had to be together throughout the day. Suriving in the dressing room became uncomfortable with KP feeling that they were slipping into mediocrity. Tensions began to rise in the dressing room where Moores was relentless. He just would not relax. There were far too many team meetings. KP feels that Moores did not understand the modern England cricketer who wore the jersey on the road for more than 200 days.

The days when they do not have to wear them are gold. A team meeting might only take 30 minutes but the time leading upto it and the cliches during the meeting were all just too much for KP. He felt that the body needs rest and the mind must be in the right place to be able to go out and perform. Moores failed to understand that there are some who do not speak more about cricket and there are others who wants to talk about the game. KP was of the opinion that if you want to talk about cricket, talk to the coach only to improve your game.

He gives the example of New Zealand tour where after a game of more then 700 runs scored, Moores made the England players to practise whereas the New Zealand cricketers were laughing and drinking. The result, New Zealand thrashed England easily in the next game.

The high-handed approach of Moores

He complains that Moores made them do army-type training, running up the hill, sprints and carrying each other. Pictures of them in underwear were taken to understand the body shapes. At this point KP remembers what Vaughan told him that he, Vaughan wanted to retire because he was unable to handle Moores. KP had several discussions with the team members because the coaching methods of Moores was too much to bear. They were all of the opinion that Moores must be gone. KP called Giles Clarke the ECB chairman and told him that he did not want to continue as the captain with Moores as the coach. If the ECB was happy with Moores, he was happy to go down the ranks and just play as a batsman. He never told him that it is him or me.

The ECB gave him a questionnaire on how to improve English cricket. KP was pleased and expected things to change. He was supposed to submit the questionnaire after his vacation in South Africa when the tabloids were full of KP wants Moores out stories. Initially he was angry with Vaughan beacuse he thought Vaughan must have leaked. KP wanted Vaughan in the team because of his stature though he wasn’t scoring runs. With captaincy off his shoulder, he expected Vaughan to be back at his best. Peter Moores did not want Vaughan and brought in youngsters.

Wrapping up Kevin Pietersen captaincy and Moores

Pietersen was under the impression that it must have been Vaughan who leaked because Vaughan knew Moores did not want him and hence to get rid of Moores, he must have leaked. When he got back to England, he got a call from Hugh Moris, the managing director of ECB who told him that they have agreed for Moores to go but KP must also go beacause if the ECB agreed to let only Moores go, they would have succumbed to the demands of KP where there were none. From then on, things were never the same for KP.

During the India series, the Mumbai attack happened. England were flown back to London but they still had a couple of Tests to play. KP was on the phone with all the players because he wanted to return. India and Indian cricket will always be grateful towards KP because without his insistence, England would not have come back to play. Security was assured and it was tight. The first Test in Chennai, England lost that game and with that the series.

Autobiography