Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen admitted today he would have to "think long and hard" if he was offered the captaincy again.

The 28-year-old was in charge for only five month before he quit in January after falling out with coach Peter Moores, who was then sacked.

Pietersen, who was succeeded by Andrew Strauss, said today: "I knew deep down the truth about what had happened, I knew the real truth about what people had said to me so I had no issues with any of the players.

"I had no issues with Straussy taking over. I had issues with other departments of the management, but I didn't have any issues with players.

"I'd have to think long and hard about doing it again because of my personality, because of the way I like to do things. We'll have to wait and see. If it gets chucked at me, I'll have to do a lot more thinking than the first time I took it over."

Pietersen (below) was today trying to help England end their dire run by beating West Indies in the opening match of the one-day series at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.

The tourists have gone 13 international matches without a win this winter, the most recent humbling being their six-wicket Twenty20 defeat by West Indies in Trinidad on Sunday.

It has prompted suggestions England may become more conservative in their approach during the five-match series but Strauss believes his men need to be bold if they are to arrest their slide.

The skipper, who overcame a hamstring injury to lead the team in his first one-day international for two years, said: "Generally, we have to play very positive cricket. You can't hope to live in international one-day cricket these days by playing a very conservative game - I don't think that works.

"At the same time, you have to have a caveat in place that the players have to assess the conditions. In some conditions, going out and smashing the ball everywhere is not the right thing to do. It is about cricketers having the ability to think on their feet and react well to the conditions and that's more crucial than any game plan."

England won the toss and elected to bat first with Matt Prior and Steve Harmison coming back into the side in place of Steven Davies and Amjad Khan.