Fire the boss!
As the row between Kevin Pietersen, the England cricket captain, and Peter Moores, the head coach, begins to establish some kind of rhythm, it seems increasingly likely that Moores will have to go, writes Simon Barnes in the Times :
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
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As the row between Kevin Pietersen, the England cricket captain, and Peter Moores, the head coach, begins to establish some kind of rhythm, it seems increasingly likely that Moores will have to go, writes Simon Barnes in the Times:
Why? Simple: because Pietersen wants him gone. Throughout the history of sport, cricketers, more than most athletes, have been considered inferior to such people as selectors and chairmen and tour managers. A lack of deference to such people used to cost players their places, as Fred Trueman, among many others, learnt the hard way. But now, it seems, the captain is about to sack the coach, much as a writer sacks the editor or the lead violinist sacks the conductor. Fire the boss! What a thrilling concept - how wonderful it would be, whenever our careers seem to be developing along unpleasing lines, to sack the boss.
In the Independent Angus Fraser writes the row and its inevitable fall-out could undermine a huge year for English cricket. Perhaps the bravest and best decision England cricket's managing director Hugh Morris can make is to remove both.
In the next 12 months, England will compete for the Ashes and the Twenty20 world cup, as well as play several important Test and limited-over series. How the Australians must be laughing. Ricky Ponting's side, like Pietersen's, might be losing Test series, but at least their dressing-room does not appear to be imploding. But while Australia are in apparent disarray, England are at civil war ... If Pietersen gets his way, as it appears he will, should the next England coach be rubber-stamped by him? It would be a ridiculous decision because it will be nigh on impossible to find someone who can work with and satisfy Pietersen on a daily basis.
The Guardian's Mike Selvey believes Pietersen is the fulcrum of the team and will be so in the foreseeable future. In such circumstances, while it would be unwise to allow him such autocracy that he can, for example, effectively appoint the next coach so that it fits in with his own agenda, it would be equally unwise to risk alienating Pietersen by antagonising him further with a coach with whom he did not feel he could develop a rapport.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo