Pietersen receives widespread backing

Pietersen has vented his frustration at the manner in which his reign as captain came to a crashing end, following the revelation that he and coach Moores were no longer willing to work together.

In particular, the South Africa-born batsman railed against his widespread vilification which followed claims that he had given the England and Wales Cricket Board a 'back me or sack me' ultimatum in his row with Moores.

''People talk about my ego as if it's out of control. But if I had any kind of ego, I would have held on to the captaincy and taken all the privileges that go with it and all the perks,'' Pietersen, who announced his resignation on Wednesday shortly before Moores was sacked, said.

''What hurts me was the character assassination that has been totally unfounded. And that is the reason why I want to get my story across so that people can understand that I have done absolutely nothing wrong.''

One of the most damning claims made against Pietersen was that the leak of his argument with Moores was, at least partially, his responsibility.

ECB vice-chairman and management board member Dennis Amiss shot down that suggestion this morning, however, when he described the untenable situation into which the governing body had been backed.

''Once the information was in the public domain that Kevin Pietersen didn't want Peter Moores as his coach, it was always going to be impossible to resolve amicably - the ECB board was put in an impossible position,'' Amiss said.

''We don't believe Kevin Pietersen leaked the information, we understand his frustration at it being leaked by other parties.''

Pietersen is believed to have been asked to write a strategy for the way forward for England in which he demanded Moores' removal, and it is now thought that the leak stemmed from that emailed document - although the culprit or culprits remain unknown.

But despite the 28-year-old appearing increasingly innocent over the leak, Amiss insisted a desire for a new start among ECB board members meant he had to go.

''It was felt that we wanted a clean piece of paper, we wanted to rebuild and we wanted a completely unified team,'' he said.

''We want to try to move forward, go into a new era, with a new captain and a new coach, and play some positive cricket because everybody wants England to be successful.''

Amiss added: ''Kevin is very much part of the future.''

Former skipper Mike Gatting also leapt to Pietersen's defence, claiming he had never intended his issues with Moores to become public knowledge.

''KP was asked to write his future plans...the coach is a crucial man and if he felt he wasn't right, then fine,'' Gatting said.

''Kevin's got to put down what he thinks is best for English cricket and that's what he was asked to do. But I think they've got to try to keep that quiet - it's a shame it all came out in the press.''

For his part, Pietersen remains determined to keep starring for his adopted country and hinted at a future bid to reclaim the captaincy, insisting he has ''unfinished business'' in the role.

Should he ever find himself in charge of the England team once again, it appears he could count on the full support of fast bowler Steve Harmison.

Many reports over the last week have centred on the supposed rift in the England dressing room, with players aligned along broadly pro-Pietersen or pro-Andrew Flintoff lines - with Harmison said to be in the latter.

But the Durham seamer is adamant he played no part in having Pietersen removed and replaced with Andrew Strauss.

''I can say without a moment's hesitation that both Fred (Flintoff) and I supported Kevin as our captain and our leader, Strauss has already made his backing for Kevin quite clear and any suggestion that we turned against him when (team managing director) Hugh Morris rang us for our views over the crisis is rubbish,'' he said.

''The idea that we told Morris that we supported Peter Moores ahead of Kevin is nonsense.''

Harmison added: ''I just don't accept the notion of a dressing-room rift, with players in one camp or another. There was no rift. There were no camps.''

Pietersen also denied claims that he has a strained relationship with team-mate Flintoff.

He said: ''My relationship with Freddie was great and towards the end I sat down with him and I said 'Mate, this is what is going on'.

''We had a good chat and Freddie's parting words were, 'You cannot leave as England captain'.''

Former Australia and Yorkshire batsman Darren Lehmann and Kent director of cricket Graham Ford have, meanwhile, expressed interest in replacing Moores.

Ford knows Pietersen well from their time together at Natal early in the batsman's career and he said: ''Kevin and I have had a really good relationship for a long time and I would like to think there's sufficient respect for him to work with me.

''I do believe Kevin is very proud of playing for England and would like to see them become the number one cricketing nation in the world.

''There are a lot of things he'd like to strive for and I'd like to contribute to, and I'm sure it would be a relationship I could develop.''

Lehmann added: ''Yes, I'm interested. It's something I would definitely consider.''