Moores backs under-fire Colly

Kevin Pietersen will captain England for the first time against New Zealand at Lord's on Saturday after Collingwood, who will miss four limited-overs internationals - for England being three overs behind the clock in the one-wicket defeat to New Zealand on Wednesday - became the first English player to be banned by the International Cricket Council.

Now Moores hopes the player's image and future prospects have not been sullied by his initial actions, saying: "No, I don't think it's damaged his captaincy. When someone gets picked for England, you pick them because they're made of the right stuff and they uphold the game. Paul has done that."

His decision not to withdraw an appeal which resulted in a clattered Grant Elliott being run out towards the end of the chase led to a drastic deterioration of relations between the teams - before an apology to the tourists restored peace.

Moores added: "I think the fact he was then prepared to walk into their dressing room straight away and say 'listen fellas, I'm sorry, I don't think I got it right' says something for him.

"It takes quite a big bloke to do that. It was an incident which was unfortunate - in the heat of the battle he did it and the judgement call was it was legit.

"We've watched him play a lot for England and we have admired his determination, his grit and the way he goes about his cricket.

"I back him because things happen in sport which you don't plan for and that is one of those things - and sometimes one of the keys is what happens after it happens.

"The fact both sides spoke straightaway after is the best that could have happened."