The enigma that is Kevin Pietersen

[Arthur Crabtree]

Presumably KP would have retired after the T20WC. It does seem an unnecessarily strict enforcement of the protocol. And then (Hugh Morris i think) the ECB had a dig at KP for retiring so soon before this competition.

I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about this. The ECB will at least have to carefully justify its stance. Which won't be straightforward.

[Making_Splinters]

Missed those solid rumours. Or more likely, feel that so much fanciful conjecture comes out of the media that I've stopped hearing it.

Kim, our journo , mentioned them in the India ODI series but was shot down I think by a few.

Stop it with the journo thing.

Its the timing that is so odd - he must want to play in the T20 World Cup so why not wait till after that?

OK he saves himself a few ODIS but hes contracted to Surrey so either wont have a rest when they are on.or opts out of playing for Surrey and gets hammered by everyone again.

England have around 15 ODIs this summer, if he has no intention of playing on till 2015 / 13 what would be the point in him taking up that experaince, tiring himself out and risking injury?

Quetion is what he does instead though. Endless one day cricket for Surrey - different treadmill but still a treadmill - or nothing - which will get him critisised. Dont see he gains much from this at all.

If he plays every game for Surry he'll have about eleven games between the West Indies and South Africa, ten T20s and one LVCC game and to be quite frank he realistically has no option but to play for Surry if he's going to keep playing test cricket.

[ddb]

Missed those solid rumours. Or more likely, feel that so much fanciful conjecture comes out of the media that I've stopped hearing it.

Kim, our journo , mentioned them in the India ODI series but was shot down I think by a few.

Stop it with the journo thing.

Its the timing that is so odd - he must want to play in the T20 World Cup so why not wait till after that?

OK he saves himself a few ODIS but hes contracted to Surrey so either wont have a rest when they are on.or opts out of playing for Surrey and gets hammered by everyone again.

Learn to spell first.

[andy]

it is a blow this news

HOWEVER

im glad that Hugh Morris and the ECB told him he had to stop playing t20 as well....good to see them saying, its tests or limited overs......otherwise we could have had people just choosing t20.

[Making_Splinters]

it is a blow this news

HOWEVER

im glad that Hugh Morris and the ECB told him he had to stop playing t20 as well....good to see them saying, its tests or limited overs......otherwise we could have had people just choosing t20.

Which of course is essentially what Strauss did aside from with ODIs, I don't see any real reason why a player can't retire from one format and not play the other.

[andy]

he should be able to play tests which he will be

my point is he shouldnt be able to play t20 if he dosent wanna play 50 over, otherwise it de-values 50 over cricket..

good to see him continuning with tests

[rich1uk]

if the ECB consider it important to keep consistency between both limited overs formats then why do we have different captains ?

they cant pick different squads, different teams , different captains for the two formats and then insist that playing in one commits you as a player to play in the other

[GGAS]

if the ECB consider it important to keep consistency between both limited overs formats then why do we have different captains ?

they cant pick different squads, different teams , different captains for the two formats and then insist that playing in one commits you as a player to play in the other

[rich1uk]

i get the impression that the ECB maybe hoped if they said to him he was going to exclude himself from consideration from the t20 side if he decided to retire from ODIs that he would relent and keep playing in ODIs as well , but he stood his ground on ODIs and we have ended up with a situation that really benefits no-one

[greyblazer]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... CMP=twt_gu

[ddb]

i get the impression that the ECB maybe hoped if they said to him he was going to exclude himself from consideration from the t20 side if he decided to retire from ODIs that he would relent and keep playing in ODIs as well , but he stood his ground on ODIs and we have ended up with a situation that really benefits no-one

Yeah, that's what I think too.

Don't think it's the end of this.

And don't like these articles calling him for going freelance or whatever. Wish we wouldn't judge so much especially before anything has happened. If he is going to go the Gayle route, then fair play to him, he's human, he's still playing tests also, would be relatively old at the next ODI WC anyway.

[Making_Splinters]

Why exactly would a player playing in T20 but not in ODIs devalue the format?

Colly retired from Tests but wanted to keep playing T20 and ODI cricket.

Strauss quit T20 but wanted to keep playing Tests and ODIs.

The ECB don't even make the T20 and ODI sides part of the same squad!

[ntini77]

Scared of Narine. Obviously.

[Kim]

"a situation that really benefits no-one"

Exactly.

And when you reach that stage it suggests either/both parties are being stubborn or stupid.

Agree wih DDb about articles lke that guardian one as well.-

[Making_Splinters]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/may/31/kevin-pietersen-england-big-bash?CMP=twt_gu

Quite how he is going to do that when he'll be in India is a bit of a tough one.

EDIT Actually he probably won't be we're done by the end of Decemember.