Pietersen out as England captain

Pietersen has been sacked as England captain following row with Peter Moores. Moores has also been relieved of his position.

Perhaps this paves the way for Strauss to take the captaincy, especially with his current form making his selection a complete non issue.

This story has just broken, so there is absolutely no information on it, but I'm sure it will become clearer throughout the day. I know members on this board will see this as a relief, personally I was neither here nor there. It is good to have a strong character as captain and England will lose this, but the "best friend" thing that is evident inside the England dressing room is not acceptable.

Perhaps players deserving of an England place will get a go now and players who arent worth their place will be off. Time will tell.

hahaha - did I not say it was a mistake giving him the captains job??

Sky are saying Strauss will take over!

Do u think they read what I post here?

I never thought I'd say this, but great news.
Setanta have reported Strauss has been appointed captain.
A world class batsman, but a naive and poor captain - the question now is - will England now lose the services of KP to the IPL?
The group has taken a hit - let's see what Freddy does now.

Is Strauss full time captain or just stand in for now?

KP will continue to play for England if he does love the team as much as he says. England will benefit from having a level header character in charge. It is only a matter of time before compromise is made to allow English players to play in the IPL. It will be beneficial to their games as well as their wallets and it is unfair to keep them away from an opportunity to make really money from their job.

If you could go to do the same job for more money, you would. This is all the players want.

Well he's stand in for now, but he should get it full time - he's just been named for the Windies series.
I reckon KP will stick it out until the Ashes and then accept an IPL contract - this will then mean the ECB will have to accomodate all English players, and could see a change in the timetabling of summer test matches - maybe it will put pressure on the ICC to change the system.
I dont think IPL or T20 is beneficial to their game, not their test game anyway - I want value for money when I watch a test, so I expect it to last 5 days, not be over in three after both team has hit 500 in one day, then collapsed for 10 the next.
Seems as though the dressing room is split, according to "beefy" KP and Freddy have split, and both have tried to grab as many test players in their new groups as possible. The Mirror is saying KP was stabbed in the back by Freddy and the boys, and the aussies are now saying KP appraoched Warne behind Moores back to become the new bowling coach. Strauss and KP have always been on good terms so all the press regarding that is not a surprise - it's turning in to a bit of a school ground show - surprisingly, and for the first time, the ECB have come out with a tiny bit of credit - not much, but always time for a first.

As far as Test cricket goes, it is better to see a result played out over 4 or 5 days, than see an India prompted bore draw. T20 aids a players natural game and encouragse shot makers.

You cannot suggest that the newer breed of test cricket is not exciting. Record run chases are occuring and periods of test cricket, where 2 runs per over for long periods of time is the norm. These situations still occur infrequently and will always have a place due to their tense nature, but the more aggressive cricket is leading to more results which in my opinion is better value for money.

Most tests still do go the distance between the better nations, yet we are getting more thrilling matches. The game between India and England was classed as one of the best ever before we fucked it up. You cant say you didnt sit and enjoy Sehwag's innings (to a certain extent) as I did.

The IPL allows the best players in the world to compete against each other more regularly and mixes up the bunch. County cricket has never allowed so many world class players from so many countries to all be team mates at the same time. The game is benefitting from it and England are being left aside so much that we are squabbling in house.

Wouldnt even be surprised if the Windies beat us. They certainly embarassed us in the Stanford Series.

Strauss has been given the ODI captaincy for the Windies series - he hasnt played for 18 months.