The England and Wales Cricket Board's managing director Hugh Morris will address the media at noon, raising question marks over the future of Test captain Andrew Strauss.
Strauss, 35, was expected to line up for Middlesex on Tuesday after a short family break following the Test series defeat to South Africa but withdrew from the match in the morning.
A hastily convened press conference was then announced late on Tuesday night, almost two hours after Alastair Cook's limited-overs side lost the second one-day international against the Proteas by 80 runs. The ECB declined to answer calls about the nature of the briefing, leaving Morris to shed further light on the situation at the ECB's Lord's headquarters.
Chief executive Giles Clarke has also been made available for interview at Derbyshire's County Ground at 2pm. To have both of the board's heavy hitters on duty on the same day in different locations suggests a major announcement, meaning there may also be a clarification of Pietersen's future.
Pietersen is currently in England exile after a dramatic summer that has seen him retire from limited-overs cricket, give a strained press conference at Headingley where he brought his Test future into question and admit to sending "provocative" text messages to opponents in the South Africa team.
The Pietersen saga has weighed heavily on Strauss, who appeared visibly drained after the third Test earlier this month and was equivocal when questioned about his plans.
Asked if he would still be in charge for the forthcoming tour of India the opening batsman said: "It's probably hard to answer that after the week that's just gone by. It's been a tiring week.
"We all need to sit down - myself and Andy Flower in particular - and try and map out the way forward."
Those are hardly the words of a captain resolutely defending his position, though Strauss retains the complete backing of Flower as well as the wholehearted support of the dressing room - Pietersen notwithstanding.
At present Strauss' captaincy record stands at 24 wins from 50 matches, making him England's third most experienced leader and the second most successful behind Michael Vaughan. He also led the side to home and away Ashes triumphs as well as the surge to world number one last summer, the first time England had held the position since the rankings were introduced.
Strauss, 35, was expected to line up for Middlesex on Tuesday after a short family break following the Test series defeat to South Africa but withdrew from the match in the morning.
A hastily convened press conference was then announced late on Tuesday night, almost two hours after Alastair Cook's limited-overs side lost the second one-day international against the Proteas by 80 runs. The ECB declined to answer calls about the nature of the briefing, leaving Morris to shed further light on the situation at the ECB's Lord's headquarters.
Chief executive Giles Clarke has also been made available for interview at Derbyshire's County Ground at 2pm. To have both of the board's heavy hitters on duty on the same day in different locations suggests a major announcement, meaning there may also be a clarification of Pietersen's future.
Pietersen is currently in England exile after a dramatic summer that has seen him retire from limited-overs cricket, give a strained press conference at Headingley where he brought his Test future into question and admit to sending "provocative" text messages to opponents in the South Africa team.
The Pietersen saga has weighed heavily on Strauss, who appeared visibly drained after the third Test earlier this month and was equivocal when questioned about his plans.
Asked if he would still be in charge for the forthcoming tour of India the opening batsman said: "It's probably hard to answer that after the week that's just gone by. It's been a tiring week.
"We all need to sit down - myself and Andy Flower in particular - and try and map out the way forward."
Those are hardly the words of a captain resolutely defending his position, though Strauss retains the complete backing of Flower as well as the wholehearted support of the dressing room - Pietersen notwithstanding.
At present Strauss' captaincy record stands at 24 wins from 50 matches, making him England's third most experienced leader and the second most successful behind Michael Vaughan. He also led the side to home and away Ashes triumphs as well as the surge to world number one last summer, the first time England had held the position since the rankings were introduced.
No comments:
Post a Comment