Pietersen and Moores both axed in ECB farce

In an farcical few hours of claim and counter-claim, it was suggested that both men had quit as a result of their highly damaging fall-out.

Senior officials at Lord's insisted no resignations had been received but did nothing to clarify the situation or dampen rumours a new management team would soon be in place.

Pietersen — appointed captain just five months and three Tests ago — is thought to have told the England Cricket Board he could not lead this month's tour of West Indies under the current set-up, making his position untenable. He was then given the option of either resigning or being relieved of the captaincy.

Moores, who had looked likely to be the only casualty, was also axed as the ECB opted for a clean sweep in the dressing room. Now, after apparently discovering that Pietersen did not have the total support of the dressing room over his row with the coach, the ECB are left with two vacancies to fill.

Pietersen, in South Africa on holiday, is due back in England tomorrow and is expected to make a statement and all attention will turn to his immediate plans with the Caribbean tour imminent.

While England can find a new captain — Andrew Strauss is the obvious answer, at least for the Test series against West Indies — they will be desperate to reintegrate their best batsman into a team which, just six months from now, must go into Ashes battle against Australia.

News of a rift between Pietersen and Moores became public on New Year's Eve with the skipper unhappy that former captain Michael Vaughan was not included in the squad for the West Indies. As revealed in Standard Sport yesterday, Pietersen's public dispute with Moores had so angered some heads of the game that support for the captain had been eroding.

Key figures at Lord's could not accept what amounted to Pietersen wanting to have an unprecedented say over who should be coach.

Pietersen's reign began with victory over South Africa in the final Test at The Oval and then followed up with a 4-0 drubbin g of the tourists in the limited-overs campaign.

But things turned sour during a shambolic week in Antigua which saw England trounced in the Stanford Super Series $20million showdown.

The ECB opted to promote Moores less than 24 hours after Duncan Fletcher's eight-year reign came to its conclusion at the 2007 World Cup.

But his record in charge includes four Test series defeats out of four against top-level opposition and the only victories have been against New Zealand and the West Indies. Moores's assistant, Andy Flower, is expected to be in charge of the team for the tour of the Caribbean.