Nuts enough to work with KP?

The England board could replace coach Peter Moores by the end of the week and it's time to look at some of the contenders.

The Daily Telegraph's Nick Hoult feels a foreign coach is the most likely though former England spinner Ashley Giles, who is Warwickshire's director of cricket, could be the caretaker coach for the West Indies tour.

The Guardian looks at it in a different way. Who will be nuts enough to work with KP, asks Andy Bull.

Graham Ford Age 48 Current job Kent coach Coaching pedigree Strong: he coached South Africa to eight Test series wins out of 11 during between 1999 and 2002 and helped Kent to the Twenty20 Cup in 2007. Rating 8/10 Does his face fit? Ford has turned down job offers from India and New Zealand in the past two years to stay with Kent. They were relegated in 2008 and he has said he is determined to stay on and lead them back to the first division. He is the outstanding candidate, if only because the hat seems to fit so well. 9/10 Luck or skill? Having only played seven first-class matches in his life he has had to earn the opportunities that better ex-players are gifted with. He has certainly benefited from the quality of the players he has worked with though, right through from his early days, with Malcolm Marshall at Natal, to the captaincy of Rob Key at Kent. 7/10 Compatibility with KP Hand in glove. Ford worked with Pietersen at Natal and made an effort to dissuade him from moving to England. In his autobiography Pietersen calls him: "Someone I both respect and admire". Was born in the same town as the captain — Pietermaritzberg. 10/10

Pietersen's rift with Moores has highlighted one of cricket's eternal questions: in the final analysis, who is the boss – the captain of a team or its coach? In the Independent Angus Fraser explains why there is no easy answer.

Cricket would benefit from having a similar structure to football or rugby but it is not that simple. The nature of the game does not allow it, and that is why it is not in place. The influence an all-controlling manager could have on a cricket team is limited because he cannot make substitutions and change the structure of the team. The 11 players named at the toss have to see the game through. The primary role of a cricket coach is to develop the players under his guidance and provide them with all the preparation and information they require for the contest ahead. Historically they have always had a say in team selection and accepted that, when the team leaves the dressing room and crosses the white line, responsiblity for what happens lies with the captain.