The enigma that is Kevin Pietersen

[Gingerfinch]

Have you ever played Cricket before, Shanky?

I know what you mean. KP scores 150 then he's done well for the team but there's more to to than that. What about when he plays a rash shot because he's pissed off at a team mate or vice versa.

Also, he has allegedly criticised his captain. This puts added pressure on Strauss.

I do like KP but I fully understand why he was dropped.

[#Brown]

Shanky

It's not about on the field stuff though. That's not an issue as far as the ECB's concerned.

Well, the last time I checked, a cricket match was played on the field.

Yep and last time I checked, it was a team game. Maybe the team harmony is being disrupted by KP, maybe it isn't? The point is, the ECB are not going to drop our best bat for no reason.

I dont understand this term "team game". Whilst cricket is a "team game", it is still a bunch of individuals who form a team. And the team can do well only if the individuals do well. I dont see how a "team" can be a better than sum of its parts. A "united" team consisting of non performing individuals cant do well. And if you havent got the personnel, then "unity" and "harmony" doesnt fetch runs. Skill, hard work and talent is needed for that. KP possesses all the 3.

Then that tells me you've never played in a cricket team.

Pretty much everyone qualified to speak on the subject has, at some point, talked of the apparent togetherness of the England team and the influential role this has played in their success.

[shankycricket]

Is Bairstow more likely to score runs than KP? I think anyone who has ever watched the game of cricket would say no. So how is it "in the best interests of the team"? So presumably winning the Lord's Test is not in the best interests of the team?

[ddb]

Shanky, calm it, seriously.

This is probably the only good article on it all:
http://cricketwithballs.com/2012/08/13/ ... and-unity/

[shankycricket]

Have you ever played Cricket before, Shanky?

I know what you mean. KP scores 150 then he's done well for the team but there's more to to than that. What about when he plays a rash shot because he's pissed off at a team mate or vice versa.

Also, he has allegedly criticised his captain. This puts added pressure on Strauss.

I do like KP but I fully understand why he was dropped.

Thats the key word. They have basically dropped the best player in the side on the basis of an baseless allegation by a crap newspaper, which gets more things wrong than vice versa.

[greyblazer]

Shanky, calm it, seriously.

This is probably the only good article on it all:
http://cricketwithballs.com/2012/08/13/ ... and-unity/

The only article that talks sense on this issue

[Gingerfinch]

Have you ever played Cricket before, Shanky?

I know what you mean. KP scores 150 then he's done well for the team but there's more to to than that. What about when he plays a rash shot because he's pissed off at a team mate or vice versa.

Also, he has [b]allegedly criticised his captain.[/b] This puts added pressure on Strauss.

I do like KP but I fully understand why he was dropped.

Thats the key word.

Ok, he DID. Why not say "nothing to do with me Andy"?

If he has done no wrong then I'm in agreement with you but I believe he did, so hence my argument. If it turns out he did send those messages, will you be agreeing with the ECB or KP?

[hopeforthebest]

When JF Kennedy made his inaugural address he said " Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". Pietersen woulddn't know what he was talking about, which is the root cause of all his problems.

[shankycricket]

Ah! That really is a top quality article.

[Robert]

This is the crucial sticking point fom Hugh Morris:

"A fundamental item was to confirm publicly that no derogatory texts had been sent by Kevin to the South African team. "

That says he had to speak in public about the texts not just behind closed doors. Maybe he would be willing to make an admission in private but balked at doing so in public. Presumably he believed his video would be sufficient but that clearly omitted a statement about these text messages.

He just assumed the ECB would pass the message on, seems they have very selective information incontinence however.

He'll be back in the side in the near future.

He knows exactly what he has to do - until then nothing will change.

[Dilbert]

What I would like to understand from people who think it was right for KP to be dropped to ensure team unity etc, do you think Swanns comments in his bio were justified? Should he have been dropped too?

[Gingerfinch]

What I would like to understand from people who think it was right for KP to be dropped to ensure team unity etc, do you think Swanns comments in his bio were justified? Should he have been dropped too?

What did he say and was it done in jest?

[Aidan11]

I don't buy the team unity thing.

Andy Cole & Teddy Sheringham didn't like each other at Man Utd. They still won loads of silverware. I have found that even in normal employment there will always be someone who doesn't get along with another, but as long as it doesn't get personal, there's no reason why they can't work in the same workplace in a professional manner.

[Robert]

What I would like to understand from people who think it was right for KP to be dropped to ensure team unity etc, do you think Swanns comments in his bio were justified? Should he have been dropped too?

Yes! He praised his batting ability, but shed doubt on his captaincy credentials - that's a perfectly valid critique of him.

[shankycricket]

Have you ever played Cricket before, Shanky?

I know what you mean. KP scores 150 then he's done well for the team but there's more to to than that. What about when he plays a rash shot because he's pissed off at a team mate or vice versa.

Also, he has [b]allegedly criticised his captain.[/b] This puts added pressure on Strauss.

I do like KP but I fully understand why he was dropped.

Thats the key word.

Ok, he DID. Why not say "nothing to do with me Andy"?

If he has done no wrong then I'm in agreement with you but I believe he did, so hence my argument. If it turns out he did send those messages, will you be agreeing with the ECB or KP?

Well, I am not siding with anyone. I have said that KP is far from blameless. I want what is best for English cricket. And dropping KP is clearly not the solution. It is just the easy way out to hide away from a problem rather than facing it and sorting it out. Actually, text messages shouldnt be deemed as a problem anyway. Clearly, the ECB are not any good at man-management. They dont know how to handle different people. Come On! The players are human beings. The ECB probably want all their players to behave like robots and say "yes sir" to everything. Sorry, thats just not going to take us anywhere.