Warne says 'aggressive' Pietersen more deserving of England captaincy than 'defensive' Cook

Australian spin legend Shane Warne has said that star England batsman Kevin Pietersen should be handed back the captaincy of his team from a 'boring and unimaginative' Alastair Cook.

Warne upset England players with his attempt to undermine their Ashes campaign when he re-iterated his complaints about current skipper Cook's 'negative' leadership on the field, arguing it could cost England the Ashes in Australia.

Metro.co.uk reports that Warne insisted England's captaincy should be given back to Pietersen, who was famously stripped of the captaincy in January 2009 after an attempt to remove then coach Peter Moores.

Although Cook has lost just one of 14 Tests since taking over the job from Andrew Strauss last year, Warne however, said that the Ashes tourists need a more proactive and aggressive style of leadership if they want to be the top Test team in the world, adding that Pietersen can provide that style of leadership.

Warne also admitted that he might have been a bit too harsh of his criticism of Cook's captaincy, although he insisted that he was not paid by Cricket Australia (CA) and has no official role with them, adding that even though Australian skipper Michael Clarke is his best friend, he is however, Clarke's harshest critic.

Further backing Pietersen, Warne said that the player has the best cricket brain in the team, along with Graeme Swann, adding that both Swann and Pietersen are imaginative and good readers of the game and take the aggressive option first unlike Cook, who retreats too quickly and goes on the defensive instead of stamping his authority.