Pietersen arrives back in England

Kevin Pietersen has arrived back in Britain following his dramatic resignation as England captain, as the dust begins to settle on a tumultuous 24 hours for English cricket.

Pietersen was escorted by police through a scrum of photographers at Heathrow Airport on Thursday morning, and has less than a fortnight to digest the ramifications of his high-profile bust-up with England's coach, Peter Moores, before England fly out to the Caribbean to begin their Test series against West Indies.

Pietersen was forced to relinquish his post when an ECB report conducted by the director of cricket, Hugh Morris, made it clear that several senior members of the England dressing-room - among them Andrew Flintoff and the new captain, Andrew Strauss - did not support his actions.

Aside from the unease about his attack on the coach, the players are believed to have found Pietersen tactically naïve in the field, particularly in the first Test at Chennai where India chased 387 for victory. Also, there are suggestions that he made too much personal capital out of England's return to India following the Mumbai attacks, probably with a view to earning a lucrative contract in the IPL.

England's former coach, Duncan Fletcher, who is currently involved with the South African squad that last week inflicted Australia's first home series defeat for 16 years, believes the revelations are hugely damaging to England ahead of a crucial Ashes summer, and has criticised the ECB for making the findings of their report public.

"The ECB has exposed him somewhat by admitting that its research, whatever form it took, revealed a lack of support for Pietersen as captain," wrote Fletcher in The Guardian. "That to me sounds like a huge problem in the making: will the dressing room divide into pro- and anti-KP camps? How will it gel? Will the new captain have the backing of all the senior players? It's going to be a huge issue for the poor captain in the months ahead."

According to Pietersen's friend and former captain, Michael Vaughan, however, all the fuss will be quickly forgotten if KP gets back to doing what he does best - scoring runs. "What Kevin has to do now is go to the West Indies and score a hundred in the first Test," Vaughan wrote in the Daily Telegraph. "England need Kevin to be challenging to be the No 1 batsman in the world."

Both Fletcher and Vaughan agree that Strauss is the right man to take over the role, and it is understood that he will be unveiled as captain for the ODI series in West Indies as well as the Tests at a press conference at Lord's on Thursday afternoon. Fletcher, however, sounded a note of caution about the appointment.

"Strauss was the only viable option, but he will need the support of all the other players, and he will need to be rated by the others as a cricketer too, which is crucial for any leader. There are egos in that dressing room who could cause more problems for the new captain. Not the least of the difficulties will be how to handle KP when he returns to the rank and file."