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England International

Kevin Pietersen insists he is on good terms with coach Peter Moores after being named as England's new captain.

The 28-year-old Hampshire star was unveiled during a cramped press conference in the Lord's media centre on Monday following the shock resignations of Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood as England's Test and one-day captains.

He will take charge of the Test, one-day and Twenty20 sides having held talks on Sunday with Moores aimed at salvaging an increasingly fractious relationship between the pair, which threatened Pietersen's willingness to take the highly-scrutinised role.

But asked whether he believed they could take the team forward together, Pietersen was adamant they could, claiming he was "absolutely 100% confident".

He stressed: "I don't think I would be sitting here today if I wasn't 100% confident that everything is going to be perfectly fine.

"He (Moores) likes to challenge us, he likes to challenge us on a daily basis. There are a lot of strong characters and opinionated people in the dressing room and I think yesterday I sat down with Peter and we had a really good discussion on how we want to take this team forward.

"My position as a player to becoming captain is now totally different and we need to unite and get onto the same hymn sheet and we need to get this team going forward.

"He likes to challenge players, but the crux of yesterday's meeting was to determine and decipher where Peter and myself can take this England team."

Pietersen's rise to the most prestigious job in English cricket has been rapid.

It is just seven years since he moved from his South African homeland to try his chances in county cricket as a protest about the quota system then in operation.

He endured a contentious spell with Nottinghamshire before making his one-day international debut for England in 2004 and progressing into the Test side the following summer, where he played a key role in helping to regain the Ashes.

Since those early days he has developed into one of the world's best batsmen, albeit one who is prone to the occasional error in judgement as was underlined when he was caught aiming for the six runs which would have brought up his century in the third Test against Edgbaston.

But Pietersen remains confident he can achieve what both Vaughan and Nasser Hussain, his two permanent predecessors, failed to achieve and not let the pressures of captaincy undermine his ability as a batsman.

"I hope it won't restrict the way I play and I think it will be silly for me to start thinking it definitely will affect the way I play," he said.

"I play the way I play and it's a way that I've been successful with so far in my career and it's something I want to try and keep at a really high level."

He also intends to lead by the same instincts which have served him so well as a batsman over the last few years and wants his England team to play in the same fearless manner to the way he approaches his cricket.

"I want the team to play similarly to the way I play my game, although you have to be accountable for the things you do and be responsible for the decisions you make," he conceded.

"I've learnt a lot from Michael from the way he has been around the team and the way he's spoken to players, the way he commands himself.

"The way I play is by gut instinct. I like to do things spontaneously, do what I feel is right in the situation. Over the years I've played cricket, I've gained a good cricket brain in terms of how I do things and my gut instinct when I'm batting for the first few years I've played for England has certainly been something that has assisted me tremendously.

"I will always ask for advice, I will also be listening, I'll always ask questions, I will always take advice from people. It's exciting for me. It's something that is a brand-new test, a brand-new challenge and I love challenges."

But Pietersen, who got married in December, has also noted what an effect the responsibility of being captain can have on home life and watched Vaughan fight back the tears when he spoke of the impact on his own family during Sunday's resignation speech.

"I just see this as a fantastic opportunity to grab with both hands and to go with it and run with it," he explained.

"If it doesn't work and it affects a few things in terms of my personal life or if affects the way that I bat then I will be man enough to say so.

"I'm not going to be a wimp and say I'm not going to do it, I'm not going to take it on board and I'm going to give it a really good go like I give everything in my life a good go."

But asked whether he was worried about the impact on his private life, Pietersen did admit: "There are obviously concerns.

"I've just recently got married (to Liberty X singer Jessica Taylor) and if you look at what Michael said about the last nine months and what he's been like at home, it's interesting to hear.

"You're always aware of the pros and weigh up the cons but the pluses were more entertaining."

Click here for Kevin Pietersen's captaincy press conference!