Stephen Harmison wants Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen to find a quick solution to their problems for the good of the England team. Moores, the head coach, and Pietersen, the captain, are set for crisis talks this week with Moores's job understood to be on the line.

“They have got to get their heads together and have a chat and sort out the issues,” Harmison, the fast bowler, said. “It's about the England cricket team - not Peter Moores or Kevin Pietersen. It's not ideal because we are at the start of an Ashes summer, but we don't want it to go on and on with what we've got coming over the next nine months. They have got to be in harmony because otherwise they will drift the team farther apart. If there is a problem, it needs to be sorted sooner rather than later.”

An announcement on the future of Moores is expected this week and Hugh Morris, the England managing director, is talking through the options with David Collier, the ECB chief executive. Any decision must be ratified by the ECB board. The 12 members may be summoned for an emergency sitting or special conference call, with the next scheduled meeting as distant as January 21, which also happens to be the date of England's departure for the tour to the West Indies.

If Moores does lose his job, he may rue his failure to play the political game, according to the man who succeeded him at Sussex. Mark Robinson, who took charge as cricket manager at Hove in 2005 when Moores left to run the ECB's National Academy, believes that his friend and one-time colleague could still work with Pietersen.

Robinson, who has exchanged e-mails with Moores since news broke of the divide at the heart of the national team, said: “I know that all Pete cares about is what is best for the team, he just wants people to go out there all together and win. Everything he does is with the team in mind. He has no ego, he does not do politics at all and has never tried to smooth the right people. Maybe he should have done that a bit more because he might find himself in a stronger position now. Pietersen is more media-savvy.

“I do feel for Pete and that is a coach's support as much as a friend's support. You cannot have player power to this degree. Once things go public, they are harder to sort out. But Pete is very strong mentally and socially, he will be strong enough to try to sort out whatever differences there are and put them behind him. He will want to keep the relationship going. It is whether other people let him and give him that chance.”

Ray Illingworth, whose experience includes spells as England coach, captain and chairman of selectors, fears for Moores. “The captain has to be the main person,” Illingworth said. “It is a clash of personalities and someone has to make a decision as to which one goes.”

David Lloyd, who followed Illingworth as coach in 1997, offered an old-fashioned solution. “They need to be taken into a dark room and told to sort it out,” Lloyd said. “I'm struggling to understand Pietersen's problem with Moores in the first place.” Lloyd suggested that Moores, if forced out, may be interested in the job as Lancashire first-team coach, which became available when Mike Watkinson was moved into a new role as director of cricket. Moores, who lives in the East Midlands, was born and raised in nearby Macclesfield. Lancashire would have to extend the application period that ended last Friday, with David Houghton, Alan Butcher and John Abrahams among the candidates.