The enigma that is Kevin Pietersen

[greyblazer]

In simple words, "principles" dont win you cricket matches. Performances do. Ah Well!

See the bigger picture, shanky.

Look at fergie. Stam slagged him off......see ya, becks got to big for his boots.........ta ta, Ince was seen as a big time charlie, bye bye.

All of these players, especially Stam were world class but fergie said "cross me" and there will be one winner.

Anyhoo, KP may be back once he's seen who runs the show and I hope he does come back, better for it.

Cantona? Balotelli? Romario? Ganguly himself. Now where they easy to handle? Romario was instrumental in helping Brazil win world cup with his skills. You can get a coach but you don't get world class players.

Cantona? He was apparently a great team man. Also, did Romario or has Balotelli criticised management to the opposition? It's not all black and white and you can't just say player A was a problem but player B wasn't. Each case has it's own conte
nt and shanky saying a player should play for whatever reason is wrong.

As far as I know Romario was a difficult man to handle. Parera in the 94 WC was the only one who handled him well and look at the result.

[greyblazer]

And of course there is the case of Gangs and he had a public spat with his coach and his board too. Well under Gary Kirsten he came-back and made runs.

[D/L]

Ah, the hazards of staging a series when the IPL is going on....

The WICB learnt the hard way to accommodate the plans of Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine and Marlon Samuels to play in the IPL, instead of creating confrontations they couldn't win. New Zealand will also allow any player who wants to play in the IPL instead of touring England in early May to do so next year, much as the Windies did this year.

So, they've learnt not to fight against the IPL, and pretend that it doesn't exist. So have the Sri Lankans....

It's just England who persist in fighting this battle now. Kevin Pietersen is the first casualty, and he won't be the last. No matter what anyone says, KP's absence will felt, so the IPL has already won its clash of fixtures with England in May, as far as KP's career is concerned. It's the IPL's gain and England's loss....

This really has nothing to do with the IPL. That would have been dealt with at contract negotiation time.

[hopeforthebest]

Run scoring is clearly important but so is the ability to play to the situation the team finds it's self in. I believe the worst defeat in recent years was the loss at Adelaide in 2006 when we collapsed in the second innings.
Collingwood who had made a double century in the first innings came in at 69/2 and within a few balls ran out Bell, Pieresen who had a scored 150 in the first innings without trying to sweep Warne came in tried a sweep shot and was bowled around his legs. Collingwood ended up with match average of 220 and Pietersen one of 70+. Great for their carerr aveages but not a lot for the team.

[D/L]

You don't see what KP has done wrong? Odd, anyway, you said earlier he wasn't blameless???

About the text? I dont see whats wrong.

That would explain some defending Pietersen. People just have different values, I suppose.

He neither denied the alleged nature of them nor apologised for them. Seems fairly conclusive to me.

[meninblue]

Sachin and Rahul are perfect examples of being players who need not cause issues to become great cricketers. It is definitely possible to become the best of batters by adjusting with the team mates.

[Dilbert]

Two wrong's and all that.

Clearly they did not think it was wrong when Swann did it !

I think the attendance for test matches would not change much if KP is not playing. There are enough Cook, Strauss, Trott, bell, Jimmy, Swann, Prior, Finn, etc fans to keep the tickets selling.

I dont think so. Its not about attendance, its about who is a crowd puller. KP clearly trumps over anyone in the Eng team.
Its like people would rather watch Sehwag or Sachin over Dravid.... they create the excitement even though Dravid was more solid and reliable. Sehwag will win it for you, Dravid will save it for you. Hence Sehwag is a bigger crowd puller than Dravid.

Similarly KP is a bigger crowd puller.


Finally I agree with GB... its about man-management. ECB, Strauss and Flower are incapable of managing elements like KP. Something Kirsten did very well with the Indian team.
This is a failure of ECB, because you will always get dynamic personalities like KP, whom you need in the team, because they are match winners. But if not handled properly, can lead to destruction.
You see this in the corporate world, different sports teams, politics, everywhere.

ECB, Strauss and Flower need better man management skills.

Maybe they can poach Kirsten?

[shankycricket]

So KP and Strauss have a rift. KP plays one of the all time great knocks while Strauss cant buy a run for toffee against good bowling. And who is dropped? KP? Doesnt really make any sense to me. These rigid "principles" are not going to help the cause.
If the "principle" that player is dropped because he refuses to reveal the content of a PRIVATE message, then thats not a very good one.
In that case, why not check the phones of all the players? Why only KP? Because of a report by Daily Fail? Give me a break. And if they go solely on that report, then that report also said that the SA manager denied that the messages were "unflattering". So why not trust him? Why only read half of the report? Selective amnesia?

[meninblue]

Two wrong's and all that.

Clearly they did not think it was wrong when Swann did it !

I think the attendance for test matches would not change much if KP is not playing. There are enough Cook, Strauss, Trott, bell, Jimmy, Swann, Prior, Finn, etc fans to keep the tickets selling.

I dont think so. Its not about attendance, its about who is a crowd puller. KP clearly trumps over anyone in the Eng team.
Its like people would rather watch Sehwag or Sachin over Dravid.... they create the excitement even though Dravid was more solid and reliable. Sehwag will win it for you, Dravid will save it for you. Hence Sehwag is a bigger crowd puller than Dravid.

Similarly KP is a bigger crowd puller.


Finally I agree with GB... its about man-management. ECB, Strauss and Flower are incapable of managing elements like KP. Something Kirsten did very well with the Indian team.
This is a failure of ECB, because you will always get dynamic personalities like KP, whom you need in the team, because they are match winners. But if not handled properly, can lead to destruction.
You see this in the corporate world, different sports teams, politics, everywhere.

ECB, Strauss and Flower need better man management skills.

Maybe they can poach Kirsten?

Less crowd means less attendance, isnt it.

I personally rate Cook and KP very highly in tests. Also some English bowlers. So because one of my fav. player is sropped, i not going to stopp biying tickets

[shankycricket]

Dilbert,

The ECB, Flower and Strauss need "better" man management skills? Better? Do they have any at the moment?

[Gingerfinch]

Flower's a strong minded man who has principles. Another manager would live with the KP show but not Flower.

[D/L]

The Swann issue, though some seem to think it strengthens a fairly weak defence of Pietersen, is a complete red herring.

It’s refreshing that the ECB have ignored all questions of who is the greatest crowd puller in arriving at their decision. Perhaps, after all, money is not the sole arbiter of questions of right and wrong.

Some people, of course, would not respond to the most skilled man managerment. Given his track record, surely it is not inconceivable that Pietersen falls into this category.

Some of the “arguments” used to defend Pietersen are becoming, unintentionally I’m sure, quite hilarious! Keep them coming.

[sussexpob]

It seems that performance is no longer measured on what you do on a field, but what you do off it. Without KP this team would not have achieved the levels it has, and dropping your most on form batsman, the best player you have ever produced in limited overs cricket and the best test match player in a few decades, is simply unforgivable.

I cant accept this decision at any level I am afraid. I will not be watching the 3rd test match, and I wont be lining the pockets of the ECB for the foreseeable future by attending matches that they compromise by playing under strength teams against under strength teams.

This is an utter shambles and until people behind the scenes are held accountable then I will no longer support English cricket.

[meninblue]

Ignore typos in previous post as i m posting from cp.

[Dilbert]

Adi, the question is, who would you rather watch if you had to choose - Cook or KP?
Its not whether you would stop buying tickets if KP was dropped.

Thats the whole point - Lara, Sachin, Sehwag, KP, Gayle pull crowds.
Cook, Dravid, Chanderpaul dont do it the way Lara, Sachin, Sehwag, KP, Gayle do. Even if they are great players.

When Gayle wasnt there in the team, the WI fans didnt stop watching. But when Gayle came back, they were much more happier.

Another way to put it in context is - Lara, Sachin, Sehwag, KP, Gayle turn matches in a session. They terrorise, demoralise opposition, stamp their authority within a few overs. Cook, Dravid, Chanderpaul cant. They can bat for days, but dont change much in 1 session. They dont have that instant impact ability. Thats the difference