The enigma that is Kevin Pietersen

[Making_Splinters]

Yet more ECB sources adding fuel to the fire:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-2187959/Kevin-Pietersen-say-sorry-face-England-exile-ECB-warn.html

As much as I think KP has been a complete prat - if a somewhat understandable one in places - the ECBs handling of the whole matter is just completely counter productive.

[meninblue]

I still remain clueless as to why KP has problems with everyone he has played. He had issues with CSA, ECB, Nttinghamshire, Hampshire , Moores, Andy and some current English cricketers. Is he correct and everyone else wrong. Or is it that KP cannot adjust to any team over a long period of time.


Should ECB be criticized for doing their job? We do not have to go as far but rather have a look at CMS in this context. Like ECB admins we have admins for CMS. Many posters with excellent cricket knowledge have been banned. Did they not deserve to be banned just because they had excellent knowledge about cricket and for spoiling the crucial aspects of CMS forum. Such posters will be missed but still there are enough quality posters to maintain the quality of cricket discussion on CMS. Likewise were ECB not justified in dropping KP,? Have they taken a decision blindly? England will miss KP , but still there are enough match winners in the team. Anyways CMS admins too get a lot of blame when a poster is banned, so i am not surprised another admin body like ECB get criticized as well. The administrative staff have to do their jobs and it is just not recruiting excellent talent. They will always be criticized even if the admin staffs are correct. Fans like cricketers more than they like cricketing boards. By default there is a huge obvious tendency to back the cricketers but not the administrators. Hard decisions need to be taken at times.


The other question is did KP deserve to be punished by dropping him from squad? If KP has indeed not sent derogatory SMS then is he going to defend himself. Chris Cairns dragged Modi to court and proved his innocence of match fixing claims. Will KP drag this issue to the court and prove that the SMS were not degrading any English players. SMS can be traced as far i know , even if the sender and recipient have deleted it. Courts order might be enough to fetch the contents from operator and prove his innocence. Is he going to do that.

The best way to solve this mess is only if KP decides to prove his SMS were not derogatory. Only the contents of SMS will tell the true story. Those contents will also justify whether the decision to drop him was a correct or a wrong one.

[Dilbert]

Flower was comforted by Pietersen's "mature handling" of the situation and insisted the players remain friends, but when asked whether he believes players should wait until professional retirement to air critiques of their team-mates, he said: "That's my personal opinion, yes.

"I personally don't think that it's a good idea for current players to be talking about their fellow players. The written word does come across very, very differently - when you can't judge a person's tone. It's all been handled in-house, without many problems. Pietersen and Swann get on well, and I think Pietersen has handled it very maturely."

So the issue was handled internally and didn't need to be escalated. We don't know what was said behind closed doors and it's unfair that you are claiming that England did nothing about Swann which patently isn't the case. Had the comments caused deeper problems, then maybe we would have been stronger sanctions.

I think the last part of Flowers comments says it all. "Pietersen handled it maturely" - either that or he did not have a choice. Maybe Strauss/Flower/ECB should have handled Pietersens alleged texts more maturely? Maybe Pietersen was and still is hurt over those comments but no one cares....

That said, his comments about KP and Patel were both unwise. It wasn't ok and neither Flower nor the ECB have ever said that it was ok. Following the media circus around it, I highly doubt that another England player will do the same. However, if the ECB subsequently decided they should have punished Swann, that doesn't mean they can't punish others later who commit the same offence. Or as Adi put it...

They made mistake with Swann, but that would not mean they should do another mistake after few years.

Ultimately though, you can't take things on face value. Only those within the England camp know how much damage Swann's book did and how much damage KP has done this summer. It's not about the actions per se, but the damage done. In all likelihood, Swann's autobiography was not damaging to the team as a whole however because Pietersen has criticised the captain and coach, he has possibly angered the entire team. In Swann's book, he said something about fighting in the trenches for Strauss - with that sort of deep respect (i.e. goes behind cricketing ability) for Strauss and Flower within the team, it's a "you hurt him, you hurt us" situation.

----

Conclusion

I'm as frustrated as anyone else that things have come to this. I wanted the issue resolved quickly so KP could take his place in the team. And neither party is perfect - the ECB has plenty of short-sighted bigwigs whilst Pietersen's personality traits are well noted. And I would have been perfectly happy if the texts had remained secret and the Daily Mail not reported on them. What Strauss/Flower don't know can't hurt them.

The situation was so very avoidable and unfortunately my opinion is that, over the course of the past week or so, it's Pietersen who has failed to avoid his dropping. He may have good grounds to hate the ECB - but rise above it FFS! Don't mouth off in a press conference. Following talks, described as "constructive", he was told what he needed to do. Pietersen is loved when he scores runs - all he needed was to take a short term hit and show a bit of humility in closing text-gate and he would have been back in the middle in no time and a match-winning century would have seen him quickly forgiven.

I agree with most of your conclusion. But Pietersen withdrew his retirement, agreed to play, said he had a chat with "an Eng teammate" and was sure things were sorted out.
All the issues which the anti-KP brigade pointed out, he agreed to work on and resolve. But ECB/Strauss are now being stubborn, inflexible and not willing to move on.

Cant see how he can now come back.

[Dilbert]

I still remain clueless as to why KP has problems with everyone he has played. He had issues with CSA, ECB, Nttinghamshire, Hampshire , Moores, Andy and some current English cricketers. Is he correct and everyone else wrong. Or is it that KP cannot adjust to any team over a long period of time.

Do you even know what issues he had with Nottinghamshire and Hampshire ?
He did not have issues with CSA, due to their "reservation" policy, he decided he had better chances playing intl cricket in Eng... just like Morgan, Joyce and Rankin.
Also, who are these "some current English cricketers" which he has issues with?

You cant make generic statements without knowing facts.

[sussexpob]

http://theoldbatsman.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/kp-and-art-of-war.html

This is good.

Excellent article, thank you for posting ddb....

[meninblue]

I still remain clueless as to why KP has problems with everyone he has played. He had issues with CSA, ECB, Nttinghamshire, Hampshire , Moores, Andy and some current English cricketers. Is he correct and everyone else wrong. Or is it that KP cannot adjust to any team over a long period of time.

Do you even know what issues he had with Nottinghamshire and Hampshire ?
He did not have issues with CSA, due to their "reservation" policy, he decided he had better chances playing intl cricket in Eng... just like Morgan, Joyce and Rankin.
Also, who are these "some current English cricketers" which he has issues with?

You cant make generic statements without knowing facts.

From one Poster who has more information about county cricket than me could not get well with those counties. Ego problems according to him.

It is also a fact that he had issues with some English players. Who they are i don't know, so i cannot name them.

Also i have observed he has issues with CSA, Peter Moores, Andy, Strauss, ECB .

[shankycricket]

I still remain clueless as to why KP has problems with everyone he has played. He had issues with CSA, ECB, Nttinghamshire, Hampshire , Moores, Andy and some current English cricketers. Is he correct and everyone else wrong. Or is it that KP cannot adjust to any team over a long period of time.


Should ECB be criticized for doing their job? We do not have to go as far but rather have a look at CMS in this context. Like ECB admins we have admins for CMS. Many posters with excellent cricket knowledge have been banned. Did they not deserve to be banned just because they had excellent knowledge about cricket and for spoiling the crucial aspects of CMS forum. Such posters will be missed but still there are enough quality posters to maintain the quality of cricket discussion on CMS. Likewise were ECB not justified in dropping KP,? Have they taken a decision blindly? England will miss KP , but still there are enough match winners in the team. Anyways CMS admins too get a lot of blame when a poster is banned, so i am not surprised another admin body like ECB get criticized as well. The administrative staff have to do their jobs and it is just not recruiting excellent talent. They will always be criticized even if the admin staffs are correct. Fans like cricketers more than they like cricketing boards. By default there is a huge obvious tendency to back the cricketers but not the administrators. Hard decisions need to be taken at times.


The other question is did KP deserve to be punished by dropping him from squad? If KP has indeed not sent derogatory SMS then is he going to defend himself. Chris Cairns dragged Modi to court and proved his innocence of match fixing claims. Will KP drag this issue to the court and prove that the SMS were not degrading any English players. SMS can be traced as far i know , even if the sender and recipient have deleted it. Courts order might be enough to fetch the contents from operator and prove his innocence. Is he going to do that.

The best way to solve this mess is only if KP decides to prove his SMS were not derogatory. Only the contents of SMS will tell the true story. Those contents will also justify whether the decision to drop him was a correct or a wrong one.

Depends on how you define "match winners". There is absolutely no one in England or probably even in world cricket at the moment who can play the sort of potentially game changing knock that KP did at Headingely. There are guys who can accumulate runs against decent bowling. KP can hammer world class bowling. Thats where the difference lies. Statistically, there isnt much difference between KP and say, Cook. But the psychological impact that KP can have on the opposition is immense. Dale Steyn will look a completely different bowler knowing that he wont have to bowl to KP at Lord's. So I just dont buy into suggestions that he is easily replaceable.

If we dont pick KP for the India tour, then I guess thats the tour where we will really realise how important he is.

[sussexpob]

I still remain clueless as to why KP has problems with everyone he has played. He had issues with CSA, ECB, Nttinghamshire, Hampshire , Moores, Andy and some current English cricketers. Is he correct and everyone else wrong. Or is it that KP cannot adjust to any team over a long period of time.

Do you even know what issues he had with Nottinghamshire and Hampshire ?
He did not have issues with CSA, due to their "reservation" policy, he decided he had better chances playing intl cricket in Eng... just like Morgan, Joyce and Rankin.
Also, who are these "some current English cricketers" which he has issues with?

You cant make generic statements without knowing facts.

From one Poster who has more information about county cricket than me could not get well with those counties. Ego problems according to him.

It is also a fact that he had issues with some English players. Who they are i don't know, so i cannot name them.

Also i have observed he has issues with SCB, Peter Moores, Andy, Strauss, ECB .

His issues with the CSA revolved around the fact that he was dropped from KZN on the grounds of his skin colour as he lost his spot in the side based around racial quota's. Thats what made him turn his back on CSA, and that is what sparked his rather aggressive responses to Smith et al then they made comments in the past about him being a traitor.

I mean this is why, for me, it doesnt add up that the SA management would protect him or play down rumours of foul play. The CSA, Graham Smith, Mickey Adams and several players in the SA team have come to rather lurid blows with Pietersen in the past.... its well documented that GS and KP despise each other as do the CSA. Why would they therefore try their best to counter act the ECB's text war against him?

I mean the language used by the Saffers is pretty plain.... it makes the ECB look stupid. If it is motivated by decorum and the fact they dont want to blow the situation further, then maybe the ECB could also learn a lesson in crisis management from their opposition board.

Depends on how you define "match winners". There is absolutely no one in England or probably even in world cricket at the moment who can play the sort of potentially game changing knock that KP did at Headingely. There are guys who can accumulate runs against decent bowling. KP can hammer world class bowling. Thats where the difference lies. Statistically, there isnt much difference between KP and say, Cook. But the psychological impact that KP can have on the opposition is immense. Dale Steyn will look a completely different bowler knowing that he wont have to bowl to KP at Lord's. So I just dont buy into suggestions that he is easily replaceable.

[meninblue]

I still remain clueless as to why KP has problems with everyone he has played. He had issues with CSA, ECB, Nttinghamshire, Hampshire , Moores, Andy and some current English cricketers. Is he correct and everyone else wrong. Or is it that KP cannot adjust to any team over a long period of time.

Do you even know what issues he had with Nottinghamshire and Hampshire ?
He did not have issues with CSA, due to their "reservation" policy, he decided he had better chances playing intl cricket in Eng... just like Morgan, Joyce and Rankin.
Also, who are these "some current English cricketers" which he has issues with?

You cant make generic statements without knowing facts.

From one Poster who has more information about county cricket than me could not get well with those counties. Ego problems according to him.

It is also a fact that he had issues with some English players. Who they are i don't know, so i cannot name them.

Also i have observed he has issues with SCB, Peter Moores, Andy, Strauss, ECB .

His issues with the CSA revolved around the fact that he was dropped from KZN on the grounds of his skin colour as he lost his spot in the side based around racial quota's. Thats what made him turn his back on CSA, and that is what sparked his rather aggressive responses to Smith et al then they made comments in the past about him being a traitor.

I mean this is why, for me, it doesnt add up that the SA management would protect him or play down rumours of foul play. The CSA, Graham Smith, Mickey Adams and several players in the SA team have come to rather lurid blows with Pietersen in the past.... its well documented that GS and KP despise each other as do the CSA. Why would they therefore try their best to counter act the ECB's text war against him?

I mean the language used by the Saffers is pretty plain.... it makes the ECB look stupid. If it is motivated by decorum and the fact they dont want to blow the situation further, then maybe the ECB could also learn a lesson in crisis management from their opposition board.

Depends on how you define "match winners". There is absolutely no one in England or probably even in world cricket at the moment who can play the sort of potentially game changing knock that KP did at Headingely. There are guys who can accumulate runs against decent bowling. KP can hammer world class bowling. Thats where the difference lies. Statistically, there isnt much difference between KP and say, Cook. But the psychological impact that KP can have on the opposition is immense. Dale Steyn will look a completely different bowler knowing that he wont have to bowl to KP at Lord's. So I just dont buy into suggestions that he is easily replaceable.

Well, for me matchwinner is one who is capable of winning matches by batting, bowling and fielding performances. I don't really mind if Sachin wins a match by composing a classical test innings or Viru wins a match by playing a non classical test approach. Both are match winnes. So are Cook and KP, but each with a different approach. Both IMO can be all time England greats.

[Gingerfinch]

Who's said he's easy to replace?

He's one of England's all time great players, so replacing him will be very difficult to say the least.

[Making_Splinters]

It is rather strange when you read a couple of the articles written by the players who seem to just want to get on and focus 100% on beating South Africa and then when you read the Mail article quoting the ECB source who seems to want KP back in the press before or even worse during the next Test.

In fact in the Mail article it seems to be suggesting that the ECB have set up a pow wow the day before the next test begins,

[Aidan11]

KP shouldn't have sent those texts but also for them to become public knowledge the SA camp must have leaked them to a journo.

If KP thinks he has better friends in the SA team then maybe he should think again. This was good thinking by SA to get him out of the way.

Also love the way SA gave a press conference saying they want nothing to do with this as it is a matter for KP and the ECB.

Full marks to SA for getting KP out of the side to make their job easier but it would be great if we stuffed them. Can't see it though.

[D/L]

I think that a someone like Anderson even making those initial comments was rather worrying D/L; if we look back then England seem to have fairly poor track record of dealing with difficult players even the West Indies can get Gayle - a man who actually had a law suit in the works against the board - playing in the side, considering the massive advantages over the WICB the ECB have it's fairly damning to me at least we're even seeing this.

That things were allowed to develop in such a manner should be hugely concerning, as you say it's not as if there aren't clear signs of issues in the past with some of these players so why weren't people being proactive about it? It should at least be causing some real food for thought the way the ECB have gone about handling this, or in reality they didn't handle it at all, they sat back and let it explode then took the easy decision.

I think there may be a mountain being made out of a molehill hear, M_S. These are the words attributed to Anderson at the time…

“It would be extremely disappointing for me to miss out. It would be different if I felt fatigued or was struggling with an injury. But I believe I am fit to play — and while I am fit to play I want to play in every England game I can.”

Hardly the stuff of rebellion, no explicit criticism of his employer and certainly no derogatory references to a team mate. I dare say the ECB were quite happy for him to say them.

Re Pietersen, I’d go back to my point that it all seemed so inevitable, no matter what approach what was taken with him.

[D/L]

...Is it not possible for the ECB to have stood up to the Daily Mail here. The role of the press in this story has been questionable. Many are criticising the 'timing' of this melodrama. But it is the Daily Mail who is blowing up this nebulous media cloud. The ECB had an option here to defend their player, and criticise the press. Potentially uniting the team against a common enemy of the players...

Pretend nothing was wrong in the camp and launch a tirade against the Daily Mail? No, frankly, that would have been bizarre.

[Making_Splinters]

I think that a someone like Anderson even making those initial comments was rather worrying D/L; if we look back then England seem to have fairly poor track record of dealing with difficult players even the West Indies can get Gayle - a man who actually had a law suit in the works against the board - playing in the side, considering the massive advantages over the WICB the ECB have it's fairly damning to me at least we're even seeing this.

That things were allowed to develop in such a manner should be hugely concerning, as you say it's not as if there aren't clear signs of issues in the past with some of these players so why weren't people being proactive about it? It should at least be causing some real food for thought the way the ECB have gone about handling this, or in reality they didn't handle it at all, they sat back and let it explode then took the easy decision.

I think there may be a mountain being made out of a molehill hear, M_S. These are the words attributed to Anderson at the time…

“It would be extremely disappointing for me to miss out. It would be different if I felt fatigued or was struggling with an injury. But I believe I am fit to play — and while I am fit to play I want to play in every England game I can.”

Hardly the stuff of rebellion, no explicit criticism of his employer and certainly no derogatory references to a team mate. I dare say the ECB were quite happy for him to say them.

Re Pietersen, I’d go back to my point that it all seemed so inevitable, no matter what approach what was taken with him.

I was never comparing the two as equal events D/L but simply pointing out that outside the KP tornado that we've seen other bits of players making comments that they are not happy with how things are going on - something that has been largely missing under Flower and Strauss aside from KP until recently.

When you're trying to work out how this whole situation has suddenly become such a mess around one player then seeing other little bits and pieces happening through the same period of time just adds to the larger sense of why this should be viewed as concerning rather than simply just saying, "Oh it's just KP".

As I pointed out above with regards to the more recent Daily Mail articles even at this late stage there seem to be very contradictory messages coming from the players and the ECB.