Thursday 14 May 2015 11:25, UK
Michael Atherton says England have no choice but to look forward after another tumultuous episode in the Kevin Pietersen saga.
England director of cricket Andrew Strauss used his first news conference in the role to confirm Pietersen would not be selected this summer because of a breakdown in trust between the player and the ECB.
Atherton praised Strauss for making such a big decision early on, but said there will be pressure if Pietersen continues to score runs for Surrey and England fail to perform this summer.
"He's in a difficult position and he's made a couple of big calls straight away - getting rid of Peter Moores and essentially saying there was no way back for Kevin Pietersen - so he's shown he's not afraid of making difficult calls, and unpopular calls in the second case," Atherton told Sky Sports News HQ.
"It sounds unlikely Pietersen will come back, but it's going to be noisy. It depends how England do. If things go badly against New Zealand and Australia, it's going to be noisy.
It sounds unlikely Pietersen will come back, but it's going to be noisy. It depends how England do.
"But they need to move on. We saw in the West Indies Jonathan Trott coming back in at the top of the order - that was a kind of harking back to a past. That's what England have had over the last 18 months; very, very dismal times and they have got to move forward now."
Atherton said Jason Gillespie was the clear favourite to replace Moores as coach, but said Strauss must take his time.
"He's got to sort out the selection of the team and he has to find a coach, who will be across both formats and that will be someone Andrew will work very, very closely with, so he needs to take his time to get the right man.
"Jason Gillespie is being spoken about. Tom Moody covets a big role. Justin Langer sounds as though he's happy in Australia and has his eyes on the prize for when Darren Lehmann goes there. There are a lot of good candidates in the IPL, the Big Bash franchises, people like Gary Kirsten and Steven Fleming and you assume they are not available. Trevor Bayliss was a very strong candidate last time, but Gillespie would be the favourite."
Atherton also believes it's important Strauss takes a backseat role, adding: "The captain and coach must dominate the dressing room and take care of things on a day-to-day basis. It would be very confusing for another man to come into the dressing room, because then who is in charge?
"He won't be as visible as Paul Downton. He's made it clear it won't be a tracksuit role."
"The captain has to take a lead and Strauss is there in the background planning and strategising. What will really intrigue him and what will make it fun is trying to change the structure of English cricket so we are producing the best cricketers.
"For all the will in the world, you can have as many coaches as you like, people in suits and tracksuits, but you need quality players and there are plenty of them around - but you want a structure that really delivers those players. The rest is really pretty simple."
