Be your own man, Moores tells KP

Peter Moores urged Kevin Pietersen to adopt his own style as he begins his reign

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Kevin Pietersen began his tenure as England's new captain with coach Peter Moores advising him to go about the job in his own way.

England's new captain was due to practise with his team for the first time in the build-up to the final npower Test against South Africa, but was instead restricted to addressing the team for the first time during a pre-Test meeting as rain fell at the Brit Oval.

It was his first day in charge since the dramatic events of Sunday, which saw Michael Vaughan resign as Test captain and Paul Collingwood follow suit to relinquish responsibility for the one-day side, giving Pietersen sole charge of England's international teams.

But as he prepares to lead out England in a Test for the first time on Thursday, coach Moores advised him to define his own style of leadership.

"He'll be different to Michael because he's a different man," said Moores. "Michael had his style and that was very successful.

"Kevin will bring Kevin Pietersen, which is crucial. He'll be his own man and that's going to be really important.

"What's really promising is that the senior arm of the team is going to get behind him.

“We'll start on Thursday but we've got a lot of cricket coming up to Christmas, so it's an exciting time."

Moores was keen to map out the future for England with Pietersen at the helm

Moores' most important task since Vaughan’s resignation has been to agree with Pietersen on a route forward for England, a topic which was covered in some depth during a meeting at a Northampton hotel on Sunday.

"One of the first things I wanted to do when we were going to offer him the captaincy was to sit down with him and talk to him about where he was coming from and what were his views about where he wanted the side to go and whether they matched with mine," confirmed Moores.

"We sat down and talked for a good hour or so and by the end of it we both felt very confident that we were coming from the same place, which was exciting, so I drove away quite buoyant and excited about what the future might hold.

"What I like about Kevin is he's got a view. That's going to be important in his captaincy. He's passionate. He's committed about the way he goes about his cricket.

"He's positive and he's prepared to work extremely hard to get what he wants from the game."