Cricket Exclusive: by Jon Colman

Last updated at 18:55, Friday, 09 January 2009

PAUL Nixon believes England’s bid to retrieve the Ashes this summer will not been damaged by the “carnage” at the top of English cricket which cost captain Kevin Pietersen and coach Peter Moores their jobs.

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The veteran Cumbrian wicketkeeper, who played for England in the last World Cup, believes Pietersen has paid the price for his honest approach but expects his friend to respond with a mountain of runs on the forthcoming tour of the West Indies.

And Nixon believes new captain Andrew Strauss is the perfect man to unite a reportedly divided camp and ensure 2009 is remembered for the right reasons in the English game – particularly with the stumbling Australians on the agenda in the summer.

“A week is a long time in sport, and the Ashes are months away. I don’t think this situation will have a lasting effect,” Nixon said. “And don’t forget that Australia are as low as they have been for a decade, if not more.”

Pietersen’s damaging rift with Moores came to a head this week but Leicestershire captain Nixon, from Langwathby, near Penrith, defended the former skipper for his up-front approach.

“Kevin is a swashbuckling character who doesn’t hold back in coming forward,” he said.

“He is an honest bloke and he will have been disappointed with how certain rumours have come out, that one of his emails was leaked, and with the ECB’s approach to all this in the first place. I’m sure they could have waited until he was back from holiday and sorted it out behind closed doors.

“I just hope Kevin’s heart is still in it, and that he doesn’t get a huge contract in India that persuades him to turn his back on England. We still need him in international cricket, and you have got to look after your stars.”

Nixon, who was a guest at Pietersen’s wedding to singer Jessica Taylor in December 2007, added: “Sometimes in life, honesty is the hardest thing to accept. Diplomacy probably isn’t Kevin’s strength, but he has taken things full-on from the time he decided to leave South African to come and play in England, and it shows in the way he leads from the front, a bit like Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith.

“He has never seen eye-to-eye with Peter Moores from day one and told the ECB he couldn’t go in the same vein to the West Indies. These people were put in place very quickly and sometimes when you get a new captain with a coach who has been around a while – or vice versa – things don’t always gel easily.

“Maybe, in the long term, it might be the best thing for English cricket. It is a clean slate now. Andrew Strauss is a mature, level-headed guy who can bring things together and make sure Kevin is ready to score hundreds and double-hundreds for England.

“It is a time when Kevin does need the guys in the dressing room after the carnage that has happened. He will use every negative and try to prove people wrong. He will go out to the West Indies, score runs, get back to the world class KP and hopefully time will be a great healer.”

Nixon revealed Moores tried to sign him for Sussex in 2000 and described the deposed coach as “a very calm, quiet, focused guy”, but suggested his “weakness” was in dealing with a captain such as Pietersen. The Cumbrian said Kent coach Graham Ford and Australian Tom Moody would be ideal choices to replace Moores in time for the 2009 Ashes, as Andy Flower takes caretaker charge for the West Indies tour which starts in two weeks’ time. “Both the Windies and the Australians will be looking at this England situation as a positive,” added Nixon. “But there is a lot of cricket to be played.

“The West Indies are in as good a place as they have been for many years, with a good, quick bowling attack and batsmen in form. I think it’s a time when England need to have a look at certain people in the batting order – Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara, for example – and then come home and get things in place for the Ashes.

“The Australians are finding out that without Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, it is a different game. They had a lucky win against the South Africans in Sydney the other day, after winning a good toss on a crazy-paving wicket. But they lost the series and of course they are beatable.”

First published at 05:21, Friday, 09 January 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk