Former captain Kevin Pietersen said Tuesday that England’s decision to
opt for three skippers was “fascinating” but added “no-one knows whether
it’s going to work”.

England will head into upcoming home series
against Sri Lanka and India with separate captains for all three
international formats.

Andrew Strauss remains skipper of the
Ashes-winning Test team but his decision to retire from one-day
internationals means fellow opening batsman Alastair Cook has taken
charge of the 50-over side.

Meanwhile Stuart Broad, despite a
lack of senior leadership experience, has been drafted in to replace
Paul Collingwood as captain of England’s world champion Twenty20 team.

Such
a three-way split is all but unheard of in international cricket and
31-year-old batsman Pietersen, England’s Test and one-day captain from
August 2008 until January 2009, told Sky Sports: “It’s fascinating,
we’ve now got three captains.

“It’s the first time it’s ever been
done but they are young with fresh ideas and Andy (England coach,
Flower) has had some good ideas so let’s hope this is another one.

“The three are going to have to put a lot of work in and no-one knows whether it’s going to work, so let’s see how it goes.”

Pietersen,
briefly England captain across the board in succession to Michael
Vaughan in 2008-09, told the Daily Mirror last month he was interested
in succeeding Strauss as one-day captain if the left-hander quit limited
overs internationals, saying: “If the one-day job becomes available, I
would definitely be up for it.”

But it was an offer rejected by
officials, with Flower later revealing Pietersen had been among the
names considered when reviewing the captaincy set-up before England
opted for the trio of Strauss, Cook and Broad.

South Africa-born
Pietersen was stripped of the England captaincy after a deterioration in
his relationship with Peter Moores, now at Lancashire, saw the then
coach sacked.

The pair’s exits paved the way for the successful
alliance between Strauss and Flower that has yielded home and away Ashes
triumphs.

England play Sri Lanka in the first Test at Cardiff from May 26-30.