LONDON, Jan 11: In a new twist to the English cricket controversy, former captain Kevin Pietersen on Sunday alleged that he never resigned and the board did not provide him any reason as to why he was being asked to step down from captaincy.

Daily Telegraph quoted a close confidant of Pietersen as saying that England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) kept him in dark about sacking Peter Moores as coach.

Pietersen said that he had held meetings during the Tests in India with ECB chairman Giles Clarke, ECB managing director Hugh Morris and ECB chief executive David Collier and had talked about “a few names as possible new coach” with Collier and Morris.

“The last words from David Collier and Hugh Morris during the last Test match in India were for me to do a strategy plan as to how I wanted to take the English cricket team forward,” Pietersen was quoted as saying in the report.

“They said we would meet again on Jan 8 in London. I said I would come straight from the airport so we could have it in the morning but they said come in the afternoon. On New Year’s Eve, I sent the strategy email. In my email I said that I can’t lead this team forward and take it to the West Indies if Peter Moores is coach.”

He said his email was taken as an offer of resignation and Morris rang him and the ECB emailed him to accept it.

“I have not had any reasons for why I was asked to stand down,” he said. “I was not told in the telephone conversation or the email that Peter Moores was not coach. I was told that ‘your resignation’ was accepted yet I had not been told he had been sacked or asked to resign.”

Pietersen returned to London early on Thursday morning, whisked through Heathrow airport under police guard, to face a barrage of criticism for his part in the affair.

He is known to have been deeply shocked and upset at the reaction, believing he had done nothing wrong and now he feels utterly let down by offers.

An ECB official on Saturday said: “We are aware of discussions between ECB officials and Kevin Pietersen before he left on holiday, but we have no knowledge of any guarantees given to him.”

Meanwhile, Pietersen has rejected reports that the team did not back him during his stand-off with sacked coach Peter Moores, insisting that new captain Andrew Strauss and top players like Andrew Flintoff had pleaded with him to stay.

“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’,” Pietersen revealed in an interview with The News of the World.

Pietersen said he also confided in his replacement Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood.

“I confided in them and in another two senior England players [Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood]. And they all 100 per cent, I promise you categorically said to me: ‘Do not leave, Please, as England captain.’

“That’s not to say they wanted Peter Moores sacked. All I can say is that I know who I have spoken to and I won’t lie. What I have told you now is true. I have not let anything out to the media and I won’t lie about stuff. This is the God’s honest truth,” he said.

Pietersen said Steve Harmison was among the players closest to him in the team and the paceman wanted him to remain captain even after being told about the rift with Moores.

“I had a long chat with Harmy about what we were going to do going forward and how he would be seen as the best bowler in the world come the end of the Ashes. ‘That is your goal,’ I told him, ‘because I think you are a superstar’,” he said.

The chaotic circumstances in which Strauss has taken over notwithstanding, Pietersen said the new captain will get his complete backing. “I spoke to Straussy as I was walking on to the plane at Johannesburg and we had a great conversation about how if he needs me for anything I will be there for him. He knows that I’ll be there for him the same as I was the last time he was captain.”

“I’ve got zero problem with walking back into that dressing-room. I can look anybody in the eye. I’m not a problem in the dressing-room. I can work with anybody in that team. I will be 100 per cent supportive of whatever goes on,” he said.

“I am a man of principle that if I feel something is right then I will do it and am man enough to accept when I have made a mistake. If I had made a mistake I would apologise. I know the media will try and divide things but I’ve got my personal relationship with people,” he added.—Agencies