Kevin Pietersen tells Alastair Cook to resign England cricket captaincy

Cook has faced mounting pressure in recent weeks, with his own poor form and England's dismal winless run in Tests attracting significant criticism.

England have failed to win any of their last 10 five-day matches, their recent struggles against Sri Lanka and India coming on the back of a 5-0 whitewash in Australia.

Pietersen was controversially discarded by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after the Ashes humiliation and claims Cook has only retained the captaincy because it would be "yet another PR disaster" if he were to be sacked.

Writing in his latest column for the Telegraph, the outspoken South Africa-born batsman called on Cook to take the decision out of the selectors' hands.

"Alastair Cook is enduring an experience I would not wish on my worst enemy," wrote Pietersen.

"But he should do what is right for England and resign the captaincy. He has shown he does not have the tactical brain to lead the side.

"England badly miss Cook the opening batsman scoring 150 to set games up at the top of the order and, relieved of the captaincy, I don't think it is too late for him to rediscover this form.

"He could have another 10 years left but his batting requires emergency help and he needs to speak to someone away from the England set-up. He has to be honest with himself.

"At the moment only politics are keeping Cook in a job because the England and Wales Cricket Board backed him so much that it would be yet another PR disaster if it sacked him now.

"But the ECB needs his runs back more than anything else so a big decision has to be made. Forget the bad headlines for once."

Pietersen feels England are being hampered by a lack of experience within their coaching set-up.

Neither head coach Peter Moores, who famously fell out with Pietersen during his first spell in charge, nor assistant Paul Farbrace played at international level.

"Cook needs people with experience of international cricket around him, which Peter Moores and Paul Farbrace lack," added Pietersen.

"Look at Marvan Atapattu working with Sri Lanka, Rahul Dravid with India, Shane Warne with Australia. How many ex-international players have England had recently working with them? None. There is so much knowledge in English cricket going to waste."