Graham Gooch believes Kevin Pietersen can become an improved player after being handed the England captaincy.

Pietersen was unveiled as Michael Vaughan's successor at Lord's this lunchtime and will lead England into the fourth Test against South Africa on Thursday.

Former England skipper Gooch believes the selectors made the right call by handing the captaincy duties to star batsman Pietersen, who will lead the Test and one-day teams. Paul Collingwood resigned from the one-day captaincy soon after Vaughan gave up the Test job.

"I think it's a good decision," Gooch told Sky Sports News.

"I think it's a good idea unifying two formats of the game under one leader, the continuity will be there.

"He's England's most dominant player and because of his performances he is one the players will respect."

Gooch added: "It's quite an exciting time for England."

Pietersen has been an adventurous batsman for England and Gooch expects that to continue.

"He's the logical choice and he's an exciting choice as well," said Gooch.

"It's a bigger job than just captaining the England cricket team.

"Effectively you are leading English cricket and the English game.

"Hopefully the responsibility will dawn on Kevin and his performances will improve as well. They've been pretty good so far and if they improve that should be good for English cricket."

Gooch stressed: "His number one job with England is not the captaincy, it's scoring runs with England."

Former England coach David Lloyd is excited by the prospect of a Pietersen captaincy, believing it marks a significant sea change for the national side.

"It's a very brave selection. In the past they have gone for tried-and-tested citizens. Pietersen might just take us somewhere we've never been before," he told Sky Sports News.

"Let's see where it's going to take us - it'll be a good ride.

"He's a strutting character with a real ego and we don't usually go for that kind of guy."

Lloyd believes his captaincy rivals - thought to include Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook and Kent's Robert Key - lost out because, unlike the Hampshire star, they were not guaranteed starters in all three formats of the game.

Key, in fact, has not played for his country since January 2005.

"The other candidates would all be vulnerable in terms of not being guaranteed a place in the one-day team and Key, if he came in, would have had to prove himself at that level.

"Pietersen is a rock-solid candidate in that respect and is guaranteed his place.

"He's also a very tough character and my information is that the senior players are happy with him."

Strauss, meanwhile, asserted the importance of Pietersen doing the job his own way.

"Kevin hasn't got a huge amount of captaincy experience, but he's up front and he can lead by example.

"He's a magnificent batsman and he has taken everything in his stride and he will probably do the same with the captaincy.

"It's important that he goes his own way rather than trying to copy Vaughany. But it's a step into the unknown for Kevin and it's important for the players to get behind him."

Cook confirmed that he would like to lead his country in the future but is now ready to get behind Pietersen, a figure he believes "demands respect".

"It's the best honour in the the game to captain your country," he said. "It's obviously hard off the field but if it came my way I'd love the challenge.

"But at the moment it's all about KP and fingers crossed we can get behind him and help him do a really good job."

The opener added on Sky Sports News: "I thought 'Straussy' had a really good chance too but they've chosen Kevin and he's got some really good people around him.

"He's an excellent batter and demands respect with his batting. He's also not shy of making the big decisions - those big decisions are not going to affect that style of guy.

"He hasn't done too much captaining before so it will be interesting but all I know is he has the support of everyone."

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