Graham Gooch is determined to believe that Shane Warne’s detrimental effects have left the deteriorating relations between captain and coach in the England dressing room.
Gooch recalled how Pietersen did not really share camaraderie in his first stint in England and of the fact that Kevin Pietersen got on really well with Shane Warne when the former Australian leg spinner was together at Hampshire.
Warne has particularly shown dislike for coaches and had scornful opinions of John Buchanan. His dislike perhaps further translated in him doubling up as coach and captain of the IPL’s Rajasthan Royals team.
Gooch believes that Warne has plausibly passed on his dislike of coaches onto Pietersen who had already been adrift in his thinking and that of the England coach Peter Moores. Now even as it appears only one will survive the debacle and in all likelihood it will Pietersen, eyes will be watching how Pietersen adjusts to a new coach. It will also be interesting to see if Graham Ford comes under the ECB’s radar after Pietersen expressed confidence in the man he played his formative years under.
