We'll be England United as Pietersen vows to heal rifts with coach Moores

Pietersen, 28, only agreed to succeed Michael Vaughan as Test captain and limited overs skipper Paul Collingwood after talking with his family and then Moores, with whom he has clashed in recent weeks over their contrasting ways of going about their business.

Keeping their distance: but Moores (left) and Pietersen hope they can now work together

Neither Pietersen nor outgoing skipper Vaughan has developed as good a relationship with Moores as they had with previous coach Duncan Fletcher but the new captain knows their partnership will be crucial to England's hopes of becoming competitive in time for next year's Ashes.

'Yes, I did go and talk to the coach,' said Pietersen, who will begin his reign in the fourth npower Test against South Africa at The Oval starting on Thursday.

'Mooresy likes to challenge us and there are a lot of strong, opinionated players in the dressing room, so we had to sit down and have a real good discussion on how we want to take this team forward.

'We need to get on the same hymn sheet. My position from a player to a captain has become totally different but the crux of our meeting was discussing where we can take this team.

'I'm 100 per cent confident we can have a good working relationship. I won't be a wimp, I'll accept this challenge and give it a real good go.'

One of his first tasks will be to win over Andrew Strauss, who captained well as a stand-in two years ago. Strauss said: 'It is a brave decision because KP hasn't done much captaincy. I'm disappointed that I wasn't thought of as a potential Test captain. I feel as if I've got unfinished business with the captaincy.

'I feel like I could have done the Test job but there is no point feeling sorry for myself. I have to get behind Kevin.'

Pietersen admitted he has worries that the job will take a toll on him in the same way that has seen the previous two England captains, Vaughan and Nasser Hussain, resign in tears.

'Yes, there are concerns and I saw what Michael was saying about his family when he stepped down,' said Pietersen.

'When I talked with Jessica (his wife) about the job she said: "What's your gut instinct?" I said: "Excitement" so she said: "You've got the job".'