London, Jan. 12 : England and Wales Cricket Board Managing Director Hugh Morris and ECB vice-chairman Dennis Amiss have said that when former skipper Kevin Pietersen declared in an e-mail he could not work with coach Peter Moores, Morris took the e-mail to be KP's resignation, but suggested that he take some time off to think about it.

Several people could probably have saved KP - including Morris, Flintoff and other team-mates if they had been more supportive - but ultimately the strongest drive for his removal came from ECB chairman Giles Clarke.

Multi-millionaire Clarke, who is up for re-election in March, has never been a Pietersen fan and pushed hard for his dumping.

He simply could not tolerate the way Pietersen was holding a gun to the Board's head.

Last Wednesday, Pietersen was forced out as skipper after just three Tests in charge.

Pietersen, however, revealed over the weekend he confided in four senior players - new captain Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison - about his difficulties with Moores.

He said: "They all - 100 per cent, I promise you categorically - said to me `Do not leave, please, as England captain'. That's not to say they wanted Peter Moores sacked."

Pietersen believes he did nothing wrong throughout the drama that sent shockwaves through English cricket.

He says he was stitched up by his bosses and told during a five-minute phone call from Morris and by e-mail that his days as skipper were over.

But the ECB were maintaining a hard line and insisting last night they were right to dump him.

Amiss, a member of the management board which rubber-stamped the departure of Pietersen and Moores, added: "Once the information about Kevin not wanting Peter Moores as coach was in the public domain, it was always going to be impossible to resolve amicably." (ANI)