Arthur Crabtree wrote:And it's not KP against everyone else. So far Tremlett has backed him. Clearly no one out of the present team will back him, but KP does say that he has had messages of support.
We've been over and over why he didn't play for Surrey last season.
In terms of pissing into the wind, I reckon at least half the posters on this thread are antagonistic to KP.
Difficult to tell
Matt
Haven't really had time to get my thoughts down. I usually post more regularly on the Telegraph but there's so many articles and so many voices that it's difficult to get into conversation.
I find myself agreeing with a lot of the journalists outside the print industry - Cricinfo and a lot of the blogs run by a group of minor journalists I follow on Twitter (Peter Miller, Dave Tickers, legsidelizzy, Demitri Old etc). You can't ignore what KP has said, the "revelations" can't just be brushed under the carpet. The book is of course the world according to KP, so rather large pinches of salt are needed. But some of the things he says do ring true, if with some exaggeration. That said, he goes overboard on Flower and Prior, whilst other incidents seem to have been deliberately glossed over or "forgotten".
KP is and always has been a bit of a *modded*. Even with good intentions, he can make a real ham-fisted attempt at things (Moores, Notts, Hampshire etc). I've said this a number of times over the years, despite being a big supporter of him. A character flaw that is quite apparent to me is a tendency to hold grudges - he never forgave the ECB for the captaincy being taken from him. For example, the ODI/T20 retirement was him trying to call their bluff, make them give in to him. It didn't work and he looked rather silly. Textgate could have been sorted much earlier had he been honest and straightforward with them. He didn't want to be seen as giving in to them. He got dropped.
But I do think there is something rotten at the ECB. It is sad and pathetic that they have been leaking anti-KP material to the press - even more so because a lot of that material has been petty. They've got some cronies in the print media who are writing exactly what they want them to say, but it has come across very poorly. Some of the articles written by Newman especially have been full of vitriol and are as one-eyed as KP's book (though we should expect nothing else from Henderson who is a sad and bitter old man).
And I've been very unimpressed with some things the ECB has said this year. We've been told that "people outside cricket" aren't allowed to disagree with them, that we are "stakeholders", that we should just "move on" and that Cook comes from the "right sort of family" to be England captain. In one sense these are minor PR gaffs, but they do give a window into the thinking of that organisation. The printed media had surprisingly little to say about these things.
KP was never going to beat them. And as they each hated the other, even agreement was out of the question.
So my position is one of sympathy to KP. He has been treated poorly - both before and after the sacking. He is right that changes are needed with the England set-up and upper management. I hope that Moores and Cook take his thoughts on board, even if they don't publicly say so. But it is all a bit over the top and the grudges are too noticeable. I have a lot of respect, individually and collectively, for what the England team achieved. It is sad that he can't be more balanced with his criticism, but again I think he should not be ignored. But ultimately what's saddest is that due to a big collection of screw-ups, agendas and arse-kissing, we will never see a brilliant batsman play for England again.
