Profiles of the Key Players in the Pietersen-moores Dispute

Kevin Pietersen's reported resignation as England captain may have come as a shock but it is entirely consistent for a player who has made headlines as regularly as he has made runs. When he took over as England Test and one day captain in August last year, no one predicted that the man widely considered his country's best batsman and one of the most exciting cricketers in the world would last just three Test matches and four months in the job.

Pietersen was raised in South Africa, but is eligible to play for England thanks to his mother, and moved to the UK in 1997. He was called into the national side almost as soon as he had served the obligatory four-year qualifying period in county cricket with Hampshire.

Having made his Test debut in the Ashes series in 2005, along with captain Michael Vaughan and all-rounder Andrew Flintoff he became one of the faces of a triumphant summer that helped broaden cricket's appeal, and finished as top scorer with 473 runs. In the avalanche of column inches that followed, he was regularly touted as cricket's answer to David Beckham.

He continued to score runs for England and was considered the best player during England's disappointing defence of the Ashes in the winter of 2006-07. By his own stellar standards, his form fluctuated slightly but with a 226 against the West Indies in the summer of 2007 he became the second-highest run scorer after 25 Tests. His knack for generating excitement and headlines was reflected in the furore over his switch-hit sixes in New Zealand.

When he announced that he would captain the team in his own outspoken style, it may have set some alarm bells ringing at the England and Wales Cricket Board. After a promising start, with a Test win and four one-day victories against South Africa, there were farcical scenes in the West Indies during the Stanford Series and a 5-0 ODI series defeat against India. But, before the row with coach Peter Moores that reportedly brought a premature end to his captaincy, he won plaudits for the way he handled the return of the team to India to complete its tour in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.