Last updated: 4th August 2008
Pietersen: new England captain
What you've got to do as a player is to make sure that you're complying to your number one job - and his number one job for England is not the captaincy, it's scoring runs.
Graham Gooch
Quotes of the week
Former England captain Graham Gooch insists that scoring runs is still the number one job for Kevin Pietersen.
South Africa-born Pietersen was named as England's new Test and one-day captain on Monday, just 24 hours after Michael Vaughan stepped down as Test captain following five years in the job.
Vaughan's England average dipped after he became captain and Gooch hopes that off-the-field pressures will not have an impact on Pietersen's role as the team's most dominant batsman.
But Gooch, whose average actually increased after he was given the England captaincy, is backing the 28-year-old to thrive under the responsibility.
"This is a bigger job than just captaining the England cricket team," Gooch told Sky Sports News.
"Effectively you are leading English cricket and the English game. Hopefully that responsibility will dawn on Kevin and his performances will improve as well.
"They've been pretty good so far and if they improve then that will be good for English cricket.
"Your immediate challenge is that you've got to get your head around all the things that happen as an England captain - all the people that want a piece of you, all the people that want an interview and different things from outside the cricket arena that can eat into your cricket time. That's what he's got to be careful of.
"What you've got to do as a player is to make sure that you're complying to your number one job - and his number one job for England is not the captaincy, it's scoring runs.
"He has to make sure he protects his practice structure so that's not interfered with.
"Walking onto the field is the easy bit of being England captain, it's all the things that happen off the field that can worry you and unsettle you.
"He's got to guard against that and he's going to need a lot of help and guidance from the coaching staff."
Gooch was in no doubt that Pietersen was the right choice for the job, although he admitted the England selectors were hardly blessed with a long list of suitable candidates.
Pietersen is one of the few England players guaranteed a place in both Test cricket and one-day cricket and Gooch feels that was a key factor in his selection.
"I think it's the right decision," he said.
"It's a good idea to unify the two formats of the game under one leader and the continuity will be there.
"He's certainly England's most dominant player and he's someone the rest of the players will respect because of his performances.
"I don't think there was a lot of room for manoeuvre actually. It's too early for Alastair Cook because he needs to establish himself in both forms of cricket and I don't think he's done that in one-day cricket completely.
"Andrew Strauss has not been in the one-day side and I don't think they were going to go back to Andrew Flintoff after what happened in Australia, so Pietersen's the logical choice. He's an exciting choice as well.
"It's an exciting time for England."

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All the best pictures from day two of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Galle.
| Fixture |
|---|
| Sunday 5th July |
| Test Match First Test Match |
| Sri Lanka vs Pakistan |
| Friends Provident Friends Provident Semi Final |
| Lancashire vs Hampshire |
| Sussex vs Gloucestershire |
| One Day Int Fourth Match |
| West Indies vs India |
| Women's ODI 4th Match |
| England Women vs Australia Women |
| Monday 6th July |
| U-19 Test Series 1st Match |
| England Under 19 vs Bangladesh Under 19 |
| Tuesday 7th July |
| County Championship - Div 1 |
| Warwickshire vs Sussex |
| County Championship - Div 2 |
| Northamptonshire vs Derbyshire |
| Essex vs Glamorgan |
| One Day Int First Match |
| Scotland vs Canada |
| Result |
|---|
| Saturday 4th July |
| Tour Match |
| England Lions vs Australia Match Drawn |
| Varsity Match |
| Oxford UCCE vs Cambridge UCCE Oxford UCCE won by 6 wickets. |
| Friday 3rd July |
| County Championship - Division One |
| Somerset vs Yorkshire Somerset won by 4 wickets. |
| Nottinghamshire vs Lancashire Match Drawn |
| Durham vs Worcestershire Durham won by 5 wickets. |
| County Championship - Division Two |
| Middlesex vs Surrey Match Drawn |
| Kent vs Gloucestershire Kent won by 76 runs. |
| Derbyshire vs Leicestershire Match Drawn |
| Friendly Match |
| Warwickshire vs England Match Drawn |
| One Day International Series |
| West Indies vs India India won by 6 wickets. (Revised target - Duckworth-Lewis system) |
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