Cricket: 'LET'S END THIS FEUD QUICKLY' Harmison urges captain and coach to bury the hatchet before row damages England tour chances.

Byline: by RICHARD GIBSON

ENGLAND star Steve Harmison has called on the rift between captain Kevin Pietersen and coach Peter Moores to be sorted out with haste.

Fast bowler Harmison is among the 16-man party that heads to the Caribbean a fortnight tomorrow - at a time when there are just six Tests before the Ashes.

The pair have major differences of opinion on the way forward for the England team just five months into their working relationship.

"They have got to get their heads together and have a chat and sort out the issues," Harmison said.

"It's about the England cricket team-not Peter Moores or Kevin Pietersen.

"It's not ideal at this moment in time because we are at the start of an Ashes summer.

"And we don't want it to go on and on with what we've got coming over the next nine months.

"They will come and go like all other players, but they have got to be in harmony because otherwise they will drift the team further apart.

"If there is a problem it needs to be sorted sooner rather than later."

English cricket's potentially damaging feud is unlikely to be resolved until Thursday at the earliest.

That is when Pietersen returns from holiday.

Separate talks between Hugh Morris, managing director of England cricket, and Pietersen and Moores were ongoing yesterday but the situation arguably calls for face-to-face meetings.

The England and Wales Cricket Board refuse to put a timescale on a resolution but time is of the essence due to the proximity of the Caribbean tour.

Should the board side with Pietersen, as some former eminent players are predicting, it would arguably make him England's most powerful captain in history.

No one has previously been able to dictate who should or should not coach the national team.

Mick Newell, who as director of cricket at Nottinghamshire has first-hand experience of Pietersen and backed his promotion when Michael Vaughan resigned in late summer, said: "You want to be backing the captain but you set a very dangerous precedent if you over-rule the coach to give the captain what he wants.

"It would be better to get an agreement between them and get on with it but it being in the public domain now makes that more difficult.

"It's Hugh Morris' job to mediate in all this.

"But, with the stage at which this is at, there does not appear much way back.

"Kevin is our best player by a long way, not only the captain, so it's a very difficult situation.

"We have had things like this at county level several times in the last few years but never at the very top."

The current dynamic in running the national team is unworkable due to a clash of beliefs - and Pietersen had a veiled dig earlier this year when he said the players would be resting up more this winter and concentrating on cricket-specific practice.

Moores' successful stint at Sussex was due to a hard-work and fitness philosophy ideally suited to the slog of 16 County Championship matches in four months.

In direct contrast to predecessor Duncan Fletcher, he is also big on player statistics.

But his record in 20 months as coach of England - four Test series defeats out of four against top-six opposition - has left his methods vulnerable to questioning.

If the impasse remains and the ECB back Pietersen by paying off Moores, they need to be confident that he is the man to lead England in the long-term.

If they remain unconvinced of his ability to do so, he may get a rap over the knuckles and a return to the ranks.

CAPTION(S):

AT ODDS: Peter Moores position is under threat; PEACE RALLY: Steve Harmison, right, hopes skipper Kevin Pietersen, left, can thrash out his differences with Peter Moores