Pietersen and Moores Leave England In Turmoil

The last twelve months has been some what of a roller-coaster for the England Cricket team.

Just under a year ago, David Gravney was relinquished of his position as Chairman of Selectors, a move that resulted from the Schofield report.

The selection panel became a four man team with former England spinners Geoff Miller and Ashley Giles with England Coach Peter Moores and James Witaker.

Graveney had been at the helm of England Cricket selection for 11 years, and his loss was sure to be a huge blow for the team, but at the same time it marked a new era in English Cricket.

We even had controversy about Kevin Pietersen's "switch hit" during the one-day series with New Zealand which created unnecessary unrest within the game.

Michael Vaughan then stepped down as England captain after a home series defeat against South Africa, the first since 1965.

Paul Collingwood then left the one-day international captaincy position on the same day.

Kevin Pietersen was brought in to take over from both Vaughan and Collingwood, and took charge of the final test match in the South Africa series, in which England were victorious.

He then took England to India, and was hugely influential in bringing the squad back to India after the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

England lost the series 1-0 and were humiliated 5-0 in the one-day series, a miserable start to his tenure for the skipper, even if his batting was still as fluent.

At the back end of the year we heard reports that Pietersen was having crisis talks with Moores about the England side after such a disappointing tour.

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However it seems more than just the team was on the mind of Pietersen, who brought up serious issues with the coaching staff.

This was made public in the new year, as were Pietersen's feelings about the upcoming tour to the West Indies.

Amongst other things, Pietersen disagreed with the omission of Michael Vaughan from the touring party.

He then made it perfectly clear that he wouldn't captain a side with Moores at the helm, and that if he continued in the job Pietersen would step down from the captaincy role.

This morning it has come to a head. Pietersen's influence on the ECB is such that Moores has now lost his job.

Pietersen's comments simply made Moores' position untenable, as Pietersen would have been included in future England sides.

A main issue was Moores' experience in the test-match arena, where he never played a match as a professional, a factor Pietersen had reservations about when he first came into the position.

BBC sports editor Mihir Bose told 5 Live: "Pietersen gave an ultimatum to the ECB saying 'sack the coach or I go'.

"The ECB has said 'we value you as captain but we don't take dictation from you'. So they accepted his ultimatum and he has suffered".

In a further development Andrew Strauss should become the new captain of the side ahead of the tour to the Caribbean.

I've written before that Pietersen's appointment was an incorrect one: http://nickygervais.blogspot.com/2008/08/revamp.html.

But this act shows Pietersen cares about the state of the game, enough that he'd put his own captaincy on the line to resolve the issue.

He's realised a problem, and put his own position at stake to put things right, a very noble act I believe by.

The whole saga is a real mess to be honest, and the ECB have done themselves no favours with how they have dealt with the story.

Even as a I write there has still been no statement by the heads of English Cricket.

The way things were conducted in public was not the way either party would have wanted, but at the same time nothing has been done to resolve it until Pietersen put his foot down.

In terms of a replacement for Moores, well the name of Graeme Gooch is sure to crop up.

His success with Essex in the shorter form of the game is sure to be an attraction, and his status within the game is enough that he will be greeted with open arms into the position.

Whatever happens in the next 24-hours is going to be vital in terms of the tour of the West Indies, things have to move quickly to give England a chance to re-group.

Typically the media are looking towards the Ashes series already and how this sequence of events will effect the result of that series.

Not to digress to much, but when did the Ashes ever need to be hyped up more. The history behind the event is enough not to mention the animosity between the two countries.

Since England's victory in 2005 the sides progress seems to be measured by how we perform in those five test matches, discounting every other country.

In terms of shaping up for the Ashes, England couldn't look in worse shape, can things be turned around in-time? The hard work starts here.