Shut your eyes and think of England.

[SaintPowelly]

Probably because Carbs,Morgan and Root have all shown form in T20s previously to warrant selection ??

[sussexpob]

No, nor would I suggest that Notts suddenly pick Hales simply because he played a good knock the other night.

I do, however, not see why Bell is being singled out when Carbs, Morgan and Root all played played equally badly.

Have you seen Carberry's T20 record from last year?

Have you seen Morgan's general T20 international record?

Joe Root was only there for 7 balls, not 17

[Making_Splinters]

No, nor would I suggest that Notts suddenly pick Hales simply because he played a good knock the other night.

I do, however, not see why Bell is being singled out when Carbs, Morgan and Root all played played equally badly.

Have you seen Carberry's T20 record from last year?

Have you seen Morgan's general T20 international record?

Joe Root was only there for 7 balls, not 17

Yet they all failed, but Bell for some reason is more culpable than all of them.

[hopeforthebest]

No, nor would I suggest that Notts suddenly pick Hales simply because he played a good knock the other night.

I do, however, not see why Bell is being singled out when Carbs, Morgan and Root all played played equally badly.

Have you seen Carberry's T20 record from last year?

Have you seen Morgan's general T20 international record?

Joe Root was only there for 7 balls, not 17

Instead of hanging to this nonsense why not go and have a nice sauna a sweat it out.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Downton has added today that England's Ashes whitewash wasn't all down to Pietersen!

A bonus is in order?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Another PR fiasco for Downton. The press are nowhere on this, but the words condemn themselves. Downton says there was a unanimous 'feeling' against KP and he

couldn't find one supporter

to defend the player. While even in the last week, a player as senior as Ian Bell said he wasn't asked, and Stuart Broad suggested that there was nothing unusual in Pietersen's behaviour in the series. Tremlett and Carberry at length supported Pietersen, and were critical of the coaches. Pietersen has also been backed in print by Panesar, Swann, Anderson, Bairstow, Tredwell, Trott and Root, to varying degrees. And coaches Saker and Giles.

All I know is I and others wanted people purely focused on playing for England. There was an enormous amount of frustration surrounding KP from everyone in the management team. I watched every ball of the Sydney Test and I had never seen anyone as disinterested or distracted on a cricket field.

The 'all I know' is very weak and lacks confidence. Downton refers to the evidence of one Test, and opinions expressed in the aftermath of a huge defeat. He keep repeating whole phrases from previous statements, which I find unconvincing.

I'm not saying all that happened in Australia was down to KP

Well, effectively he was, because he made no other decision, and considered no other problem. Flower himself made the decision to leave the coaching job, and Downton offered him another role. He created one.

Maybe all the players were a bit distracted in terms of commercial opportunities

Can we have more on this please?

There were issues. We managed KP fantastically. He played 10 years of Tests. But there was a strong feeling within the management that team won't grow until we make a decision and move on.

How patronising, smug and dismissive is this. Pietersen was a huge runscorer for his country. He would have ended his career as the second top Test scorer ever, probably behind Cook. Downton described the decision as a 'no brainer'. To sack one of our best players in the past 50 years, and to do nothing else but that?

We had to rebuild the side. That side, with KP in it, had just lost 5-0

Fans of rhetoric might wince at Downton's effort here. As if the two were related. As if the loss inevitably leads to a conclusion that KP is the key factor. We lost 5-0 with Cook as captain, and Flower as coach too.

Then he goes on to claim KP made the decision to walk away from his contract, as if that had nothing to do with being sacked! This is dishonest.

I'd been in the job a week and I didn't know how best to handle it. I was not aware of social media at the time

What? And you are making this decision?

They had a wake-up call in New Zealand, then struggled over here again in the Ashes and we slowly lost confidence. We played on wickets that were slow and our batsmen lost confidence and we became too tight. We defended rather than attacked and fell apart under immense pressure.

"It's very rare when you have such a settled group for so long and it's very different not to become stale. The preparation and planning was the same in 2013 as it had been in 2010-11 but we couldn't recreate the same sense of urgency. The tanks were empty.

Where is the coach in all this! This is actually all true, but for Downton, it had no consequence beyond the sacking of Pietersen.

Of course, ECB insider Agnew conducted the interrogation with his ex England colleague with with the rigour of an interview conducted for Newsround. They chose their questioner well. He didn't press Downton on any of it.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Are Downton and Clarke bright people?

[SaintPowelly]

You do realise that any player speaking publicly against KP makes them look bad and unprofessional.

Thats not me saying that everyone hated him, but its far more likely what was said in a 1 on 1 meeting with Downton is significantly different from what they would say to the press.

What would ANY player gain from saying KP is an *sshole to the media ??

[Arthur Crabtree]

They'd have more to gain than defending him. Apart from in respect to integrity.

I do think that players worry that if the ECB screw KP, then they may be next. That of course suits the ECB in some ways.

[sussexpob]

You do realise that any player speaking publicly against KP makes them look bad and unprofessional.

In many ways, that's about as relevant as finding out you haven't hoovered the carpet before you invite 20 mates round for a food fight.

The team were hardly being professional when leaks to the press were going on.

[sussexpob]

Are Downton and Clarke bright people?

We know the answer to that, but with Downton having a few recent interviews to defend his actions, he is certainly a guilty one.... not surprised with his answers, they seem to highlight how confused and pathetic the team and the management are/had become.

[SaintPowelly]

You do realise that any player speaking publicly against KP makes them look bad and unprofessional.

In many ways, that's about as relevant as finding out you haven't hoovered the carpet before you invite 20 mates round for a food fight.

The team were hardly being professional when leaks to the press were going on.

"A team" and "leaks" are completely different to an individual outright speaking though.

Who so far has come out of the KP sacking looking bad, Cook and Prior ??

[hopeforthebest]

Another PR fiasco for Downton. The press are nowhere on this, but the words condemn themselves. Downton says there was a unanimous 'feeling' against KP and he

couldn't find one supporter

to defend the player. While even in the last week, a player as senior as Ian Bell said he wasn't asked, and Stuart Broad suggested that there was nothing unusual in Pietersen's behaviour in the series. Tremlett and Carberry at length supported Pietersen, and were critical of the coaches. Pietersen has also been backed in print by Panesar, Swann, Anderson, Bairstow, Tredwell, Trott and Root, to varying degrees. And coaches Saker and Giles.

All I know is I and others wanted people purely focused on playing for England. There was an enormous amount of frustration surrounding KP from everyone in the management team. I watched every ball of the Sydney Test and I had never seen anyone as disinterested or distracted on a cricket field.

The 'all I know' is very weak and lacks confidence. Downton refers to the evidence of one Test, and opinions expressed in the aftermath of a huge defeat. He keep repeating whole phrases from previous statements, which I find unconvincing.

I'm not saying all that happened in Australia was down to KP

Well, effectively he was, because he made no other decision, and considered no other problem. Flower himself made the decision to leave the coaching job, and Downton offered him another role. He created one.

Maybe all the players were a bit distracted in terms of commercial opportunities

Can we have more on this please?

There were issues. We managed KP fantastically. He played 10 years of Tests. But there was a strong feeling within the management that team won't grow until we make a decision and move on.

How patronising, smug and dismissive is this. Pietersen was a huge runscorer for his country. He would have ended his career as the second top Test scorer ever, probably behind Cook. Downton described the decision as a 'no brainer'. To sack one of our best players in the past 50 years, and to do nothing else but that?

We had to rebuild the side. That side, with KP in it, had just lost 5-0

Fans of rhetoric might wince at Downton's effort here. As if the two were related. As if the loss inevitably leads to a conclusion that KP is the key factor. We lost 5-0 with Cook as captain, and Flower as coach too.

Then he goes on to claim KP made the decision to walk away from his contract, as if that had nothing to do with being sacked! This is dishonest.

I'd been in the job a week and I didn't know how best to handle it. I was not aware of social media at the time

What? And you are making this decision?

They had a wake-up call in New Zealand, then struggled over here again in the Ashes and we slowly lost confidence. We played on wickets that were slow and our batsmen lost confidence and we became too tight. We defended rather than attacked and fell apart under immense pressure.

"It's very rare when you have such a settled group for so long and it's very different not to become stale. The preparation and planning was the same in 2013 as it had been in 2010-11 but we couldn't recreate the same sense of urgency. The tanks were empty.

Where is the coach in all this! This is actually all true, but for Downton, it had no consequence beyond the sacking of Pietersen.

Of course, ECB insider Agnew conducted the interrogation with his ex England colleague with with the rigour of an interview conducted for Newsround. They chose their questioner well. He didn't press Downton on any of it.

Have you got a link to when Bell said he hadn't been ask AC. I thought I'd read all from him but can't remember that comment.

[D/L]

...I wasn't aware that T20 was a different sport to cricket...

In fact, many would say it was.

[D/L]

Another PR fiasco for Downton. The press are nowhere on this, but the words condemn themselves...

The words condemn themselves? I don't think so. Downton is clearly restricted in what he may say. Most will understand that and read between the lines what he is saying about Pietersen.

All in all, that was a pretty desperate, clutching at straws critique of what Downton has been allowed to say.