Kevin Pietersen was the right man for the job once the England captaincy became vacant. But like the old adage: a captain can only be as good as his bowling attack.

Pietersen is now 28 and no longer the inexperienced rookie that too many people like to compare him to. He has a sharp cricket brain that Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood used to tap on occasions. Graeme Smith, Mike Atherton, Stephen Fleming – they all took over the captaincy of their country in their early twenties so why can’t Pietersen succeed at 28?

I understand the reservations, which are mainly that the extra burden of leadership will negatively impact on his excellent batting form and the other is that he has too little captaincy experience. But I don’t buy any of them.  

The media pressures won't bother him - he loves all the questions, the spotlights and the flashing camera bulbs. And he is such a selfish batsman – I mean that in a complimentary way – that I don’t expect captaincy to affect his batting on the downside. Many captains before him, like Nasser Hussain for instance, almost abandoned preparations for their own game and batting because of thinking about team matters but I do not see that happening to Pietersen. He will need Peter Moores to soak up a lot of the peripheral matters like nets and those issues that he does not need to involve himself in. If anything captaincy may just cause him to be a little less hot-headed when he has those moments of madness when chasing the quickest-ever half-century in Test history when his tam needs him to stick around.

KP maintains that he will not alter his batting style but I believe he will, even if he does not admit it. He was just defensive this week as in the only innings when he did captain against New Zealand he batted like a worried, awkward individual and I believe he was just keen to dispel thoughts that he might return to that.

His cockiness just may do England a favour if it rubs off on a few team-mates. Ultimately, his brash and confident attitude is likely to be quite infectious on his team as was Mark Taylor’s on Australia and Viv Richards on West Indies but both of those examples are quite pertinent because any good captain in history would not have been successful without the bowling attack good enough to take 20 wickets in a Test.

Pietersen may be one of the lads now and everybody’s buddy, but he is likely to have to take a step back and view things with a little more coldness. It’s no good being best mates with someone in the team if he has not taking enough wickets and his average is getting on for 40.

Although KP won’t be a selector it is likely his wishes will be respected and it is rare that the captain takes an XI out on the park that he doesn’t want. With a tough two-Test tour of India approaching in December, and then a West Indies tour to precede the all-important series Australia, Pietersen has some time to plot and consider who are the men to give him the potency and penetration he needs to win Test matches.

Is Matthew Hoggard finished? Does Steve Harmison have the sufficient strength of character to tour India and be happy and successful? Can Simon Jones’s body withstand the rigours of international again after three years out? Are James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom the men to take England forward despite them being part of a three-man seam attack that lost series against India, Sri Lanka and South Africa in the last 12 months? Is Monty Panesar untouchable and should he be pushed to take his wickets at a better rate? These are questions he will need to answer inside his head and then he may know the path he wishes to take and go his own way.

The batting, though, has also been a problem. He is the kingpin, of course, but what of Vaughan – does he have a future? Paul Collingwood is a strong character he will need around him but can England afford to have to wait another 13 months for his next Test hundred like at Edgbaston? Was Ian Bell’s 199 at Lord’s a rarity and is he going to keep making pretty 50s and 60s – scores that will never win Test matches? Are Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook going to turn their regular 50s into 100s more frequently? Is it about time the likes of Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara and Rob Key came back for an extended run?

Many questions. Good luck KP, you will need it. 

Richard Sydenham is the Managing Editor of Bigstarcricket

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