Pietersen to captain England..?

Question

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12341_3742588,00.html

Kevin Pietersen has been named as the new England ODI captain following Paul Collingwood's ban for slow over-rates.

This will be the 1st time that KP has ever led England, On saturday England play NZ in a huge game at Lords, this game will decide the current ODI series between England & NZ.

Do you think its the right decision to choose Pietersen as captain, as Pietersen has had hardly any captaincy experience for county or country?.

OR do you think England should have chosen a different player, such as Ian Bell (who has had experience captaining before) Dimitri Mascheranas (Captain of his county Hampshire) or even Alistair Cook (Future England captain)

Thanks

Answer 1

I thought Ian Bell is more capable with his experience and good thinking as the next game is a must win game but having said that Pietersen could be the one england needed for the next game, we will have to wait and see I am sure fans and spectators are going to see the game to see Pietersen's capability is, I hope that people wont scrutiny him if he does fail to win the next game...

It's a shame that Collingwood got suspended and can't play the next game against NZ, england needed him he was a good captain except for the few wrong decision that he made..

Answer 2

I think Pietersen could be a fantastic captain. He has always viewed himself as a senior player; I remember a commentator saying this about him during a mid-pitch conference with Ian Bell a year or so back, with KP was dispensing his wisdom to Belly.

But Bell made his Test debut before KP, and they had at that time the same number of caps!

Given the personality that KP has, and his tremendous work ethic and professionalism, he could turn out to be an inspirational leader. His friendship with Warne must have taught him a thing or two. I would imagine that he would encourage his side to play in an attacking, exciting manner, and would try to be innovative with his field placings and bowling changes.

On the other hand, KP's vanity could get the better of him. It could turn into The Kevin Pietersen Show, and he could mismanage the situation badly.

I feel he could be a good captain of younger players, but if in charge of more senior ones, he could struggle. Tacticly, he may be quite weak, so he will be relying more on inspiration than on out-foxing Daniel Vettori.

I don't necessarily think his lack of captaincy experience in itself could be a problem. Any player who has been around for a while should know the basics of captaincy (with the notable exception of Owais Shah, who was stripped mid-season of the Middlesex captaincy, and his leadership was described as "naive")

I think it is also important that KP is guaranteed his place in the side, and has the respect of the players. Bell and Cook are still uncertain of the places in the ODI team, and Mascarenhas isn;t always in the line up.

So, we will have to wait and see.

Answer 3

My thinking is, that the selectors/board, whatever, must have their reasons & it may have a lot to do with his level of maturity or something such.Good luck to him anyway, I hope it goes well for him.

Answer 4

i think that of the remaining England players, Pietersen is the most experienced and the most able to captain his side.

What will be interesting is how the players from both teams interact given the run-out controversy in the previous match.

Answer 5

Will he still be there come Ashes time? OH YEAH!!!! Bring it on!

Answer 6

I like the idea of Pietersen being the captian. I don't think it really matter much if he hasn't done captaincy before. He's aggresive by nature, & thats the biggest leadership quality to be noticed. Remember when Jayawardene took control from Atapattu, as a temporary skipper, but after that he just did magic with the team. & I always thought England needs to be a bit more attacking, so acc. to me thats a good idea.

Answer 7

i think its quite a bold decision for an England selector, they don't normally go for untried captain ,so maybe they r looking for an inspirational captain ,like a Dhoni type ,which has been a great success for India ,Why not , i like it

Answer 8

I strongly feel that choice of Pietersen for captaincy in the absence of Collingwood is very good. He is very young and attacking batsman.  It will be an honour for him and if he succeeds, it will be good for England for the coming series against South Africa.  Pietersen is also very influential player in the England Camp and as such will be able to rally players around him.

Answer 9

too much flare to be a good one -bell seems the likely type

Answer 10

Aww you mentioned my beloved Bell who I truly believe would make a good future Test captain (not so sure about the ODI's) and as you say, he has had some experience from captaining the England U19's.

Anyways, Belly rant over. Now onto the question at hand, Pietersen!

For me I'm still uncertain about the decision however it was never in doubt considering the fact he was already playing as an "unofficial" vice-captain. KP is our best batsman who will certainly lead by example but is he a thinker? Great players do not always make great captains. (Flintoff anybody?!) For some reason Pietersen just doesn't strike me as captain material however I would absolutely love it if he proves me wrong. I wish him the best of luck (we sure as h**l need it)

Still... I'm gutted for Paul :(

Answer 11

bell should captain

Answer 12

It,s a game  we   must win Bell for me with Cook as vice just  let KP play his game

Answer 13

Pietersen is a rare talent. He is one of the all-time great batsmen. His clarity and understanding of the game will help him to do a fantastic job. He is in the mould of a Vivian Richards.

I wish great success to Pietersen. I hope that his natural talent will not be curbed and his batsmanship will not be lost due to the pressures of captaincy.

Answer 14

I would like Strauss to have been given the job. He has already captained England, and is very experienced. Unfortunatley, he has not been playing in the One Day team of late, so it would have not seemed right to have recalled him and made him captain.

Cook is a little young for the job, and doesn't need to be burdened at this stage of his career. Bell also doesn't need the burden, as he has been under a lot of pressure.

Mascarenhas would have been a real wild card choice: he is in and out of the team, and will almost certainly never play Test cricket.

So the only choice left really was Pietersen, especially as he has been the unofficial vice-captain for the past year.

Answer 15

This will either go really well, or really badly. I can't help thinking that Bell would have been a better choice.

Answer 16

i don think..he would make any impact on england cricket team.. bcoz his conduct is not good for a team...

he cheated newzland bowlers when he was playing against newzland team..