Kevin Pietersen has succeeded Michael Vaughan as England's new cricket captain following Michael Vaughan's shock resignation as Test captain in the aftermath of the series defeat to South Africa. Coupled with Paul Collingwood's announcement that he was to step down as captain of the one-day side, the door was left open for 'KP' to take charge of both the test and one-day sides.

The 28 year-old will begin his reign as captain in the final test against South Africa at The Oval on Thursday. The South Africa-born right-handed batsman, who becomes England's 74th Test captain, quickly praised his predecessor Michael Vaughan as a "great man" and "great leader".

"What a great man he was as a skipper - they are huge boots to fill and I'll try to give it the best possible go I can," said Pietersen.

"He was a great leader; he brought me into the side and I always tried to do the best I could for a great man,"

"I'm very thrilled and excited to have been given the opportunity to captain England."

While he will look to the senior players for advice, Pietersen is keen to stamp his authority on the team by bringing his own captaincy style to the pitch and he did not believe his own form would suffer because of the extra burden.

While Vaughan made his own decision to quit the captaincy, it's hard to imagine Paul Collingwood making the decision to 'step down' from captaining the one-day side off his own back. I actually think that it is very possible Collingwood may have been pressured - perhaps not even as subtle as a hint-hint, nudge-nudge - into quitting the captaincy so England could revert back to a single captain again.

While the English celebrates the induction of a new captain, Michael Vaughan deserves a round of applause for being one of England's greatest captains ever with an enviable record of having the most Test match wins including the famous 2005 Ashes victory.

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Comment by Nomad

August 8th 2008 03:55

Awesome Food

I hate "KP"... I hate that South African accent too, he'll be a shit captain. I cant wait to flog 'em in the ashes with KP at the helm.

Comment by Sports

September 15th 2008 18:16

Kevin Pietersen will be a attacking captain like his batting.

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