Peter Moores has tried to play down talk of an uneasy relationship with Kevin Pietersen, but he does not intend to compromise his beliefs over the best way forward for England. The bond between head coach and captain will be crucial if the side are to recover from successive Test match defeats by South Africa and Moores predicted exciting - but challenging - times ahead.

Pietersen's first day with what is now his squad was curtailed after rain prevented practice at the Brit Oval before the fourth npower Test, starting tomorrow. Indoor nets at the ground were being prepared for hospitality and those at Lord's were booked up. Pietersen had to restrict himself to a dressing-room speech outlining expectations under his charge.

Moores suggested that he had instigated the talks with Pietersen that took place at an hotel in Northampton on Sunday afternoon and said that both men emerged “buoyant and excited” from the hour-long chat, after which Pietersen agreed to take on the captaincy in Test and limited-overs cricket. “By the end of it we felt very confident that we were coming from the same place,” Moores said.

“There are no compromises at the moment. Coaches and captains have different views because they look at things from different places. I am excited that the challenge is out there to build that relationship. Your coaching style changes with different people, but your coaching philosophy does not change all that much. I do not particularly see my views on the game changing.

“I have always found Kevin fine. He is passionate, positive and prepared to work extremely hard to get what he wants from the game. One of the first things I wanted to do when we were going to offer him the captaincy was to sit down and talk to him about where he was coming from and find out his views about where he wanted the side to go, and whether they matched mine.

“I phoned Kevin up to ask to talk to him, it was crucial to me to be able to sit down. I could talk openly, as he could, and as we talked we were coming from the same place. There is still lots of work to support those things. He has some views which are pretty forthright. How can we implement them and make them part of the fabric of the team? That is all to come over the next few months. It is going to be exciting and challenging.”

Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, believes that unity of vision between Moores and Pietersen will be critical to the success of the relationship. “They need to talk the same language and I am sure they will do,” Arthur said. “I think Peter is a really good coach and if they get their vision together, they can go from strength to strength.”

A number of South Africa players sent messages to Michael Vaughan after his resignation on Sunday. “I do not think that deposing him is a feather in our cap,” Arthur said. “He had a huge amount of respect in our dressing-room as a leader. I thought he was magnificent over five years for England and it was sad to see his speech. We all felt for him.”

There is also respect for Pietersen as a player, although the stump microphone at Edgbaston revealed that they refer to him as “The Ego”.

Arthur believes that cricketing people in South Africa have moved away from thinking of him as one of their own. “Kevin made his decision and it has clearly been a good move for him,” Arthur said. “He is regarded as the enemy, we cannot claim him.” The gentle tone of the remark suggested that Arthur meant “enemy” in the sense of being an opponent rather than a hate figure, and he also thinks that some people in South Africa will be proud of Pietersen's achievement. Nevertheless, there will be no easy ride over the coming week.

“We expect a huge backlash from England,” Arthur said. “We have to beware of the wounded lion.”