Pietersen Wanted Flower Out Too
Man tipped to be England's interim coach was also on the former captain's hit list
England may face a fresh crisis if they appoint Andy Flower as interim coach on their imminent tour of the West Indies. It emerged yesterday that Flower, who is tipped to be the temporary replacement for the sacked Peter Moores, was one of the backroom staff that Kevin Pietersen wanted England to get rid of.
A senior official on the England and Wales Cricket Board said yesterday: "Pietersen wanted half of them out and certainly Andy Flower. I don't know what he was hoping to achieve but I've never encountered an ego quite like it in cricket. He wanted to run the show." Another management board member said: "I did hear that Kevin wanted Andy out."
Flower did not expect to be named as interim coach under Pietersen for the Caribbean trip. But all he would say last night was: "I had heard something about this but not enough to make a comment. I have always had a good relationship with KP but we have not spoken in the past few days." A spokesman for Pietersen refused to deny the story last night. "Pass," he said.
The revelation confounds the notion that Pietersen only respects coaches with international standing. While Moores was a moderate county cricketer who was never close to international recognition, Flower was one of the finest players of his time.
The former Zimbabwe captain and wicketkeeper-batsman scored 4,794 runs in 63 Tests at 51.54, with a dozen centuries. He was a particularly fine player of spin bowling and is believed to have helped a number of England players with their batting in India recently, particularly new captain Andrew Strauss, who scored a century in each innings in Chennai.One of Moores' closest allies, he played for Essex between 2002-6 and became England's assistant coach in May 2007. It was the first big decision Moores made as coach. Hugh Morris, the managing director of England Cricket, worked desperately hard to keep both Pietersen and Moores together.
Now he faces an equally difficult task in re-integrating Pietersen back into the dressing room with the messy fall-out of the whole affair still dominating everyone's attention and with the Caribbean tour, which starts on January 21, less than two weeks away.
A number of senior players said they preferred Moores to Pietersen when they were consulted by Morris in the past week, even though the coach had yet to make a real impact by taking the side forward.
A senior official on the England and Wales Cricket Board said yesterday: "Pietersen wanted half of them out and certainly Andy Flower. I don't know what he was hoping to achieve but I've never encountered an ego quite like it in cricket. He wanted to run the show." Another management board member said: "I did hear that Kevin wanted Andy out."
Flower did not expect to be named as interim coach under Pietersen for the Caribbean trip. But all he would say last night was: "I had heard something about this but not enough to make a comment. I have always had a good relationship with KP but we have not spoken in the past few days." A spokesman for Pietersen refused to deny the story last night. "Pass," he said.
The revelation confounds the notion that Pietersen only respects coaches with international standing. While Moores was a moderate county cricketer who was never close to international recognition, Flower was one of the finest players of his time.
The former Zimbabwe captain and wicketkeeper-batsman scored 4,794 runs in 63 Tests at 51.54, with a dozen centuries. He was a particularly fine player of spin bowling and is believed to have helped a number of England players with their batting in India recently, particularly new captain Andrew Strauss, who scored a century in each innings in Chennai.One of Moores' closest allies, he played for Essex between 2002-6 and became England's assistant coach in May 2007. It was the first big decision Moores made as coach. Hugh Morris, the managing director of England Cricket, worked desperately hard to keep both Pietersen and Moores together.
Now he faces an equally difficult task in re-integrating Pietersen back into the dressing room with the messy fall-out of the whole affair still dominating everyone's attention and with the Caribbean tour, which starts on January 21, less than two weeks away.
A number of senior players said they preferred Moores to Pietersen when they were consulted by Morris in the past week, even though the coach had yet to make a real impact by taking the side forward.
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