Pietersen threatened to quit in India - Amiss

Kevin Pietersen had threatened to quit as England captain during the tour of India but was persuaded not to by ECB officials, the board's vice-chairman Dennis Amiss has said on BBC Five Live.

Pietersen offered to resign after the second Test in Mohali, which was drawn, but was told to take some time off and think about it on holiday. "He mentioned resigning from the captaincy in our discussions with him but we wanted him to go away and think about it while he was in South Africa," Amiss said. "We said, 'Go away and think about it and we will resolve the situation as quickly as we can'."

ECB officials with the team in India - chairman Giles Clarke, chief executive David Collier, managing director of England cricket Hugh Morris, and Amiss - held five meetings with Pietersen and asked him to outline his plan for England for the coming year.

The plan, however, backfired when Pietersen emailed Morris with his assertion that he could not work with Moores any longer, sentiments that somehow made their way into the media. "Once the information was in the public domain that Pietersen didn't want [Peter] Moores as his coach, it was going to be impossible to resolve amicably," Amiss said. "We don't believe Pietersen leaked the information but the board was put in an impossible position."

Pietersen himself told The News of the World over the weekend that he had confided in four senior players -- Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison -- about his difficulties with Moores. "They all -- 100 per cent, I promise you categorically -- said to me 'Do not leave, please, as England captain'," he said. However, one of those players, Harmison, subsequently told The Mail on Sunday that he had "never taken sides in the argument between Kevin and Peter."

The impasse ended with the ECB sacking Moores as England coach and Pietersen resigning as captain, although Pietersen later said that he was forced to resign.

"I'm not angry with anybody, I'm just a bit let down by the character assassination which has happened since I got back in the country," Pietersen told Sky News. "I didn't think it was going to be this bad, especially before anyone had heard my side of the story. I didn't feel I had done anything wrong.

"It has been a really, really dark week but I am coming out the other end. It has been hard and horrible, and it has been hurtful and disappointing. What has been written and said has definitely hurt me. If people wanted to hurt me, they have achieved that. It has been disappointing because it has also hurt my family and friends. I know that I am not a bad bloke.