Former captain Kevin Pietersen said Tuesday that England’s decision to opt for three skippers was “fascinating” but added “no-one knows whether it’s going to work”.
England will head into upcoming home series against Sri Lanka and India with separate captains for all three international formats.
Andrew Strauss remains skipper of the Ashes-winning Test team but his decision to retire from one-day internationals means fellow opening batsman Alastair Cook has taken charge of the 50-over side.
Meanwhile Stuart Broad, despite a lack of senior leadership experience, has been drafted in to replace Paul Collingwood as captain of England’s world champion Twenty20 team.
Such a three-way split is all but unheard of in international cricket and 31-year-old batsman Pietersen, England’s Test and one-day captain from August 2008 until January 2009, told Sky Sports: “It’s fascinating, we’ve now got three captains.
“It’s the first time it’s ever been done but they are young with fresh ideas and Andy (England coach, Flower) has had some good ideas so let’s hope this is another one.
“The three are going to have to put a lot of work in and no-one knows whether it’s going to work, so let’s see how it goes.”
Pietersen, briefly England captain across the board in succession to Michael Vaughan in 2008-09, told the Daily Mirror last month he was interested in succeeding Strauss as one-day captain if the left-hander quit limited overs internationals, saying: “If the one-day job becomes available, I would definitely be up for it.”
But it was an offer rejected by officials, with Flower later revealing Pietersen had been among the names considered when reviewing the captaincy set-up before England opted for the trio of Strauss, Cook and Broad.
South Africa-born Pietersen was stripped of the England captaincy after a deterioration in his relationship with Peter Moores, now at Lancashire, saw the then coach sacked.
The pair’s exits paved the way for the successful alliance between Strauss and Flower that has yielded home and away Ashes triumphs.
England play Sri Lanka in the first Test at Cardiff from May 26-30.
