Kevin Pietersen is adamant that England's Ashes success in Australia stems back to his ultimatum with Peter Moores, the former coach, at the beginning of 2009 which led to both men losing their jobs. Pietersen's captaincy stint ended after just three Tests when the relationship with Moores fell apart following the tour of India as England were plunged into crisis.

From the wreckage of those days, however, the team have hit new heights including success in the 2009 Ashes, winning the World Twenty20 and now the retention of the urn with an innings-and-157-run thrashing of Australia in Melbourne. Pietersen has now insisted those moments of glory wouldn't have been possible without the stand he took.

"You know what - I have never said this before - I lost the captaincy, I got rid of the captaincy for the good of English cricket, and we would not be here today if I had not done what I did then," Pietersen said. "There is no way in this world that we would have succeeded under that regime and would have won the Ashes again in Australia after 24 years. Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower need all the plaudits for an unbelievable 18 months and an unbelievable preparation for this team, and they are the right leadership for this team