So the inevitable has happend! Kevin Pietersen has quit his captaincy role the England side. And Peter Moores, the coach/Team Director has been sacked. Nobody knows if KP was sacked as well but at least it sounded more like it was the captain’s decision.
Now, Andrew Strauss, who had a year-long stint earlier pitches in as the captain. It may be recalled that Andrew Strauss, who is in the middle of regaining his form and confidence, had actually lost his batting form after he took over the captaincy.
The power-struggle between the captain and coach was over another former captain Michael Vaughan who wants to come back to English test side. KP wants him which is quite understandable due to the poor batting stability of the England test team. However, Moores doesn’t want him back! With Ashes coming in, I thought somebody like Vaughan would have been a good inclusion.
It seems the dressing room itself is divided over this issue and that’s what motivated KP to quit. Obviously there are people who were not happy with KP’s privileges as a captain. Now, if Vaughan comes back this England team will have 5 former captains like the Indian test team of 2008 beginning! It’s not going to be a very nice situation for team England going forward.
Captain-Coach-Selectors power games are not new to World cricket (and for any sport for that matter). For most teams in this world, the captain and/or coach has some say in team selection. It’s due to the past rows (and regional selection politics) that the BCCI recently decided that the captains and coaches will not have any say in the selection matters going forward. Remember, Dhoni was not all that satisfied over the ODI selection row when England was in India a couple of months ago.
Anyways, let the god (err…Queen) save the English Cricket! After all the game was arguably invented there and they probably know how to deal with the situation.