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Pietersen: I have never captained before

27/06/2008

Stand-in England skipper Kevin Pietersen has revealed he has never before been a cricket captain, despite being given the job of leading the team against New Zealand tomorrow.

Speaking at his first press conference since being unveiled as Paul Collingwood's replacement, Pietersen said he has "zilch" experience of leading a team.

But he has still backed himself to fulfil the role given to him by taking on any advice offered to him by his colleagues, as well as Collingwood himself or Test captain Michael Vaughan.

"I'm going to be calm, pretty chilled and let my instincts and my gut feelings take over," the South African born middle-order batsman said.

"Tactically I think I'm pretty sound. I think I'm aware of certain situations."

"I hope I won't change from the person I am - I'll thrive on it and enjoy the day.

He added: "If I can get any tips from Michael [Vaughan] on how to do stuff it will go down a treat because he is right up there with the best in the world.

"And Colly will be around. I'm always going to ask him and he'll be here the whole day."

Pietersen also believes the fact England are now coming towards the end of a fourth consecutive campaigns against the Black Caps - including two three-match Test series and two five-match one-day series - will help him identify his preferred field placings for certain batsmen.

"We've played new Zealand for six months now so it's one of those where you should know the areas where people are going to be scoring and know what their approach will be," he continued.

"Overall though I am just going to enjoy the day and take it all in.

"I've got family in from South Africa on the off-chance and they're going to come and watch, so I'll just enjoy it tomorrow at Lord's and try not to be phased by the whole thing."