England's United front

England depart for the Caribbean this morning while still adjusting to the recent power struggle that ended Pietersen’s brief reign as captain and sealed the demise of coach Peter Moores.

The internal strife occurred against a backdrop of division and dressing-room cliques that are reported to exist within the squad.

The England and Wales Cricket Board’s failure to back Pietersen’s attempts to have Moores ousted will have left his ego bruised, and how he reacts to the demotion remains to be seen.

But Strauss, his successor as England skipper, is backing the side’s best batsman to put the episode behind him by putting the West Indies’ bowlers to the sword.

‘‘Kevin was his normal self when we met up recently. You don’t expect him to behave any other way,’’ he said.

‘‘I wasn’t expecting any adverse reaction from Kevin but I could understand he had been through a tough time.

‘‘When you have been under pressure like that it’s easy to react in a number of different ways. Where I was pleasantly surprised was that he reacted in the way we all wanted him to.

‘‘He is fully committed to playing for England and keen to go and score lots and lots of runs for England in the future.

‘‘Kevin hasn’t shown a negative side to him since the day I met him and I don’t expect that to start now.

‘‘He’s a very positive person and doesn’t dwell on what happened in the past.

‘‘In his mind I’m sure he is plotting ways of spanking the West Indian bowlers all over the place. That’s the way his mind works.’’ Strauss made light of Pietersen’s omission from the player management group for the Test series, which begins in Jamaica on February 4.

Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Alistair Cook and Stuart Broad have been preferred with Pietersen replacing Cook on the committee for the one-day matches.

‘‘You can’t have all the players in that management group, otherwise it would not function properly,’’ said Strauss.

‘‘I will be very, very keen to get as many views as I can from Kevin in the coming weeks. It is a case of gradually re-introducing him.

‘‘Looking forward he is going to play a very big role, but he has had a lot on his plate very recently.

‘‘It’s very important that he has the ability to concentrate on his batting and getting the runs that we know he can.’’ Discussions with the players revealed to Strauss that he will be taking a united squad to the West Indies.

‘‘There are no massive divides in the England team,’’ he said.

‘‘There are people who want to go out for dinner together but in many ways what’s important is that from nine to five we all trust each other, want to play together and want each other to go out and perform well.

‘‘All of the players are on board with that which is really encouraging.’’ Strauss also admitted England’s coaching team will be reduced to an advisory role for the tour.

England face an itinerary that features four Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match without a head coach.

Andy Flower, Moores’ assistant, will be the most senior coach but has been told he must take a back seat over the next two and a half months.

Instead, Strauss’ vision sees the players taking greater control of preparation and being held accountable for what happens on the pitch.

‘‘We want to see players who are able to think on their feet out in the middle,’’ he said.

‘‘They must take responsibility for the situation and not leave it for someone else.

‘‘The only way we can do that is by giving them responsibility of the pitch as well.

‘‘The coaches will play a bit more of an advisory/consultancy type role. It’s vitally important that players are challenged to think for themselves.

‘‘I have asked the players to be very honest with themselves about what they need to do in order to prepare for Test matches.’’