Kevin Pietersen Believes Relinquishing England Captaincy Gave His Team the Ashes!

On the face of it, it would look like pompous, self centred blowing of the trumpet. But what Kevin Pietersen really appearing to be doing is crediting the role of a harmonious coach-captain relationship in bringing unbelievable success in sport.

kevin pietersen matt prior ashes

Kevin Pietersen spoke on the sidelines of England's Ashes 2010 triumph in Australia and a delighted KP was so buoyed by the Ashes success that came to England after a span of twenty-four years that it appeared that for the first time, the wounds of a misfortune timed England captaincy were beginning to definitely heal.

It may be recalled that following England's tour of India in 2008, the then England coach, Peter Moores, and Kevin Pietersen, the then England captain, suffered a fall out, and amongst the many reasons was the inclusion of former England captain, Michael Vaughan, under whom England won the first Ashes triumph in 2005 after almost two decades of barrenness.

For those in the know how, the KP-Moores fall out was waiting to happen. Ultimately in the face of what seemed like an undesirable situation for England to be in, it is still unclear who threw in the towel or was given the boot. It seemed at the time that KP, who had coveted the leadership role, had decided to exit before being given the pink slip as it were.

But relinquishing the England captaincy was far from easy for the cricketer as he battled issues of isolation, dejection and disappointment, reflected on tours thereafter. Amidst it all, it appears Andrew Strauss, the present England captain and successor to Kevin Pietersen, stood by the troubled cricketer and it appears KP is now paying the compliment back in kind.

KP now feels he did the right thing by stepping out the role because he felt that the then relationship between the England captain and coach could not have yielded the kind of results England are witnessing the past one year to eighteen months. KP feels that Andy Flower, the current England coach, and Strauss epitomize the successful relationship that has seen good preparations, better cohesion within the team and results and he feels that winning the Ashes has been a feeling he has yearned to experience, probably after losing the England captaincy left a bitter taste in his mouth, although he would not say it himself.