ECB vice chairman denies Pietersen leaked row

The vice chairman of the ECB denies suggestions that Kevin Pietersen was responsible for leaking details of his rift with Peter Moores.

LONDON // The vice chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has denied suggestions that Kevin Pietersen was responsible for leaking details of his rift with the former England coach Peter Moores. Pietersen was accused of allowing his unhappiness with the coach to become public and making his position as captain untenable, but Dennis Amiss said today that the ECB believed his protestations of innocence.

Pietersen resigned on Wednesday and Moores was fired over the spat, which threatens to blight England's efforts to regain the Ashes from Australia this year. "Once the information was in the public domain that Kevin Pietersen didn't want Peter Moores as his coach, it was always going to be impossible to resolve amicably," Amiss said in an interview with the BBC. "We understand his frustration at it being leaked by other parties."

Amiss said that Pietersen had considered quitting after last month's 1-0 Test series defeat in India, but agreed to mull his situation while on holiday in South Africa. "We wanted him to go away and think about it while he was in South Africa," Amiss said. "We wanted to resolve the situation as quickly as possible." Pietersen was in South Africa on Wednesday when reports circulated that he and Moores had resigned.

The batsman said in a newspaper interview that the ECB misinterpreted his comments in an emailed strategy paper he was asked to write. Pietersen wrote that he was unable to lead the squad on their Test and one-day tour to the West Indies starting this month if Moores was still in charge. Following the leak, Pietersen said the ECB treated this as a resignation and told him by telephone that he was stepping down.

"(England cricket managing director Hugh Morris) said they had had an emergency board meeting and they had accepted my resignation," Pietersen told Sunday's News of the World paper. "I said, 'on what basis has it been accepted?' They had no answer." Pietersen said Morris did not tell him that Moores was being fired. "I thought that one of us had to go," Pietersen said. "And I would have had no problem if they had decided it was me and Moores stayed."

Pietersen denied that his actions were ego driven and reaffirmed his commitment to his playing role in the side. He said there was no rift in the dressing room and even suggested that he could return to the captaincy in future. Amiss said the ECB was happy for Pietersen to continue playing under his replacement, Andrew Strauss. "Kevin is very much part of the future," Amiss said. "He's offered Andrew Strauss his backing. He hopes he will regain the England captaincy. He's got this will, this desire to do well in international cricket."

*AP