The enigma that is Kevin Pietersen

[battingforbell]

They never identified who leaked the story. KP thinks it was Giles Clarke

Wasn't Vaughan retired by then? I think so. He wasn't coming back anyway.

Think he retired at the start of the next summer when it became clear he wsnt getting in the ashes team.

Steve James - in his book the PLan - goes into the whole Kp/Moores thing in a lot of detail.

Vaughan didnt play for england after the Oval test in 2008, though he may hve still kept his options open he was never a serious candidate for selection after that point.

Vaughan was a candidate for selection for the Ashes 2009. But he had a poor start to the 2009 domestic season. He faded. I saw him bat in Durham. A shadow of the stroke player he had been.

[ddb]

I hate the IPL. I've watched it for two years and can't bear the incessant hype and cheer leading. It diminishes cricket for me. Maybe if you are in India in the crowd one or two games might be real fun. But the whole tournament on TV is a turn-off. Diminishing returns. By contrast I love Test cricket. I loved the West Indies Series just gone. I loved the way the personalities shine through. The ebb and flow of the games. Marlon Samuels and Captain Sammy were a joy. As was Roach before he became injured. When England lost 3 top wickets - including KP's - for next to nothing the drama was amazing. If KP wants to give this up for prancing around in gold cricket pads like some gladiatorial Ninja he is welcome. But leave the English cricket season alone. The 'needless' ODIs against Australia had far more meaning against the old enemy. Who cares about the Deccan Chargers or whatever?

Clearly didn't watch the recent IPL if it was TV turn off. Unless you don't like t20's it was hard not to sort of like most of his edition, obviously not near the drama of that Aus/WI test but lots of last over finishes, it didn't drag like previous editions. If you watched only Deccan though, this is probably an accurate post.

I did try to watch. Last over finishes don't justify for me the repetitive nature of the preceding cricket. I did enjoy the freshness of the spectacle two years ago, but it has worn thin for me. If you are Indian and support a particular team I can see you might well be more engaged. I attached myself to certain Indian players at first like Ganguly who has always been a favourite of mine. But this year I kept switching it off. If you really like cricket, is it that interesting? The best part is the fielding.

Yes. If you go into watch something with a preconceived view as you have you're not going to change your mind easily. Attaching yourselves to 40 year old players who are past it and need another appointment to the hair clinic, I don't know if you can get the same entertainment anyway. This was the first IPL that didn't drag which is why it's weird if you found it worse than previous editions, it was the best one, it's shown in that almost every game had full crowds and it had good TV figures with it's largest total reach. Commentary was also a little toned down, muting it is still the best way. Anyway we've gone off topic.

[OffStumpYorker]

Thanks BFB, but I doubt anyone considered him a serious contender for a spot in the Ashes squad in 2009, including Vaughan himself.

[OffStumpYorker]

How good the IPL is, is largely irrelevant. (The commentary makes it impossible for me to watch, by the way.) The only thing that matters is that most of the players want to play in it.

There's a good reason not to schedule internationals to coincide with it is, we end up playing matches against understrength opposition.

I'd like us to play ODIs in this period. But apparently, Sky have a say in the scheduling, and they don't want ODIs to be on during the football season.

Not to mention the best ODI players are all probably in the IPL as well.

[Kim]

Thanks BFB, but I doubt anyone considered him a serious contender for a spot in the Ashes squad in 2009, including Vaughan himself.

I agree - yet they renewed his central contract in Sept 2008 remarkably.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I took that to be a bit of a leaving present.

[OffStumpYorker]

Thanks BFB, but I doubt anyone considered him a serious contender for a spot in the Ashes squad in 2009, including Vaughan himself.

I agree - yet they renewed his central contract in Sept 2008 remarkably.

I do find that remarkable, but who knows if why they did that, though it may have been at Moores request, as Harmisson was on that list as well.

[Kim]

Real irony - in view of KP - is that MPV resigned the ODI captaincy in April 2007 and was obv never going to play again but made sure he never actually retired from ODI so it didnt afefct his contract earnings.

So the answer for KP is to become rubbish at 50 over cricket very quickly

[OffStumpYorker]

Real irony - in view of KP - is that MPV resigned the ODI captaincy in April 2007 and was obv never going to play again but made sure he never actually retired from ODI so it didnt afefct his contract earnings.

So the answer for KP is to become rubbish at 50 over cricket very quickly

Its a shame he scored 2 hundreds in the UAE really as that would have helped his case.

[braveneutral]

The IPL is definitely to blame here.

Them and the dodo.

[sussexpob]

Real irony - in view of KP - is that MPV resigned the ODI captaincy in April 2007 and was obv never going to play again but made sure he never actually retired from ODI so it didnt afefct his contract earnings.

So the answer for KP is to become rubbish at 50 over cricket very quickly

There is rubbish, and there is Michael Vaughan's ODI career....

No one in the history of cricket has driven me to such anger while batting!

[hopeforthebest]

This article comes from cricinfo, containing the usual suggestion that the IPL should have a window in the cricket schedule.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/con ... 72662.html

[battingforbell]

Article by David Hopps on Cricinfo confirms that the story about KP wanting a full 2 month window for IPL comes from 'sources within the ECB'.

Cricinfo is a supporter of IPL so no surprise that Hopps argues for letting KP take the time off. In fact he wants Tests scrapped to allow a window for one and all. Wouldn't players prefer to be in India in the glamorous IPL rather than playing Tests against New Zealand in drizzling May? That's his argument. Sounds like IPL hell compared to heavenly England to me. But his site has been campaigning on these lines for a while. The Head Office is in India.

I supported KP playing for England in the t20 world cup. But if he has been angling to play for the IPL then he's lost my sympathy. It is not even a conflict of loyalties to him. He's putting it before playing for England.

[Making_Splinters]

Ah yes the scurge of modern journalism - the anonymous source.

[battingforbell]

Ah yes the scurge of modern journalism - the anonymous source.

You could see it that way. Or from some minion.