The enigma that is Kevin Pietersen

[Making_Splinters]

Interestingly, Cook doesn't seem to have ruled out stepping down from the Test captaincy.

[greyblazer]

The joke about it is Flower who has overseen the worst England have played in my eyes is demanding for KP to go. This is just ridiculous to say the least.

[Arthur Crabtree]

If you believe the Daily Mail, Cook wants him gone too. Seems like a lot of off the record press briefing is going on, which can't be ethical.

[D/L]

If you believe the Daily Mail, Cook wants him gone too. Seems like a lot of off the record press briefing is going on, which can't be ethical.

Certainly something that Pietersen would never stoop to.

[Alviro Patterson]

I'm starting to believe Pietersen is being used a smokescreen to cover the problems within the ECB.

Steven Finn gets sent home for technical deficiencies, Jonathan Trott leaves after the Brisbane test and from a biased perspective Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root are shadows of their former selves.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Selvey on cricinfo seems to be backtracking from the suggestion of Flower having issued an ultimatum.

[sussexpob]

I'm starting to believe Pietersen is being used a smokescreen to cover the problems within the ECB.

Steven Finn gets sent home for "echnical deficiencies, Jonathan Trott leaves after the Brisbane test and from a biased perspective Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root are shadows of their former selves.

I just said this on another thread, but with all the academy staff, coaches and all that apparently swallow everything in county cricket in their wake because of their superiority, it does leave a rather confusing result when Steve Finn, after months away with said coaches, is told to go have two weeks off to get laid, order take away, do a touch of watercolouring and then report to his county.

[sussexpob]

Selvey on cricinfo seems to be backtracking from the suggestion of Flower having issued an ultimatum.

He and Flower misjudged the attitude of the fans? Sounds likely..... those with rice paper houses should make petrol bombs in them.

[hopeforthebest]

Selvey on cricinfo seems to be backtracking from the suggestion of Flower having issued an ultimatum.

Hardly surprising, it was always his imagination at work.

[mikesiva]

Here's the story:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/conte ... 11471.html

Also, Selvey says this:

"You have to then factor in what is going to happen with this IPL auction that is coming up, because he hasn't had his contract renewed with the Delhi Daredevils, has he? The next round of auction has three-year contracts. I don't think they will pay big money for someone who will play only half the time. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem this season, but next season - after World Cup in 2015, England have a Test tour in the Caribbean in April-May, which is during the IPL season. That is the series that precedes the next Ashes series. England would say, "Will you go and play IPL when we are building for the Ashes?" You can see how that can become an issue and we will find out about that in the middle of next month, when the auction is. All these things have to be taken into consideration when you are looking into the future. It is not just Kevin Pietersen who is under scrutiny, everybody is under scrutiny. I suppose in his case, he is more likely to be under scrutiny, because of the nature of his other commitments and his age."

Does Selvey have a copy of the fixtures for the England Test tour of the Caribbean in 2015, because I don't....

How does he know for sure that the Tests will be played in April and May? I just can't see the WICB scheduling Tests to clash with the IPL, because that would spell trouble, not just with Gayle, but also with Narine, who is now in the Test team. Sammy is now focussing on his IPL career too, as is Samuels.

[hopeforthebest]

Selvey on cricinfo seems to be backtracking from the suggestion of Flower having issued an ultimatum.

Not seemed to backtrack he waffled a retraction.

from cricinfo. MS is selvey.

SJ: You had written a piece in the Guardian, which basically said that Andy Flower wants Kevin Pietersen out of the team.

MS: Perhaps I didn't make myself clear on what I wanted to say. When Andy Flower looks to how he can best develop the side in future, if he decides that the future of the England team can only progress if Kevin Pietersen is not in the side… in other words, the long-term future of the England side has to be without Kevin Pietersen.

SJ: The actual line that you wrote is: "Flower is thought to believe that the future development of the team can only happen without Kevin Pietersen."

MS: If he thinks it can only be developed without Kevin Pietersen, and Paul Downton, the new managing director, or James Whitaker disagree with that and decide that we are going to go on selecting Kevin Pietersen, then that would make Andy Flower's position difficult, wouldn't it? That is what I meant by that - that Andy Flower will find it difficult to carry on under those circumstances, simply because his vision of how the game should progress would not involve him, if that is the way he thinks. That is why I said Kevin Pietersen's future could depend on that. That is not to suggest that it is Andy Flower against Kevin Pietersen. That's not the case.

He has managed Kevin Pietersen for seven years. Whatever his personal feelings might be, I have no idea what they are. He has managed him for seven years in one way or another - four to five years as director of the England team and a couple of years as batting coach. He has been involved all that time and got through it. You don't suddenly get this antipathy. Any decision Andy Flower makes or will make will be based purely on how he sees the future of the England cricket team, not based on his personal feelings in one way or another for Kevin Pietersen.

SJ: My understanding of reading that piece from you was that Andy Flower actually believes that the team would be better off, or the team that he wants to shape going forward will be better off without Kevin Pietersen. It is already a fully formed thought in Andy Flower's mind.

MS: Clearly, he will have his own ideas. My view is that Andy Flower is an extremely able coach. He won three Ashes series, a World Twenty20 and a series in India. That is a pretty strong credential against one pretty embarrassing defeat in Australia. I think he could actually become a stronger director of cricket on the basis of what he has learnt here.

With regards to Kevin Pietersen, he is 34 years old, and you could reasonably say that his best days are behind him. He played in 2012 three of the finest innings of this or any other era by an England batsman - in Colombo, Headingley and in Mumbai - all in the space of six months. Since then it has tailed off. He is looking for 2017, as he keeps saying, against South Africa. That is another three years. He will be 37 years old. Is that going to be the future? Have we seen the best of him?

You have to then factor in what is going to happen with this IPL auction that is coming up, because he hasn't had his contract renewed with the Delhi Daredevils, has he? The next round of auction has three-year contracts. I don't think they will pay big money for someone who will play only half the time. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem this season, but next season - after World Cup in 2015, England have a Test tour in the Caribbean in April-May, which is during the IPL season. That is the series that precedes the next Ashes series. England would say, "Will you go and play IPL when we are building for the Ashes?" You can see how that can become an issue and we will find out about that in the middle of next month, when the auction is. All these things have to be taken into consideration when you are looking into the future. It is not just Kevin Pietersen who is under scrutiny, everybody is under scrutiny. I suppose in his case, he is more likely to be under scrutiny, because of the nature of his other commitments and his age.

SJ: Rather than making it Andy Flower v Kevin Pietersen, can we look at an overall picture where you have a coach/manager and a very good player? Is it easy to find an able coach, or easier to find a great player?

MS: It is very easy for us to sit on the periphery and say what a great player he is and that he must play. But sometimes you must make decisions based on what is best for the core of the team. Those things we are not privy to any more than anybody else outside the dressing room.

[sussexpob]

He is lucky Paxman never interviewed him.

Not that I ever did listen to him, but it is clear what he meant, he has just made himself every single bit the idiot we know he is with trying to go back on it. Obviously this was a leak that Flower or the ECB thought better of so they have sent Selvey down the river hoping this issue can be buried by the hack taking the flack.

[Arthur Crabtree]

The interviewer was kind in not pursuing Selvey. And I was kind in saying he is backtracking. He's saying something different now, and that can't be down to how badly he expressed himself. He's succeeded in making the whole situation less clear. It would be interesting where the information came from to stimulate what now appears to be a flight of fancy.

[hopeforthebest]

He is lucky Paxman never interviewed him.

Not that I ever did listen to him, but it is clear what he meant, he has just made himself every single bit the idiot we know he is with trying to go back on it. Obviously this was a leak that Flower or the ECB thought better of so they have sent Selvey down the river hoping this issue can be buried by the hack taking the flack.

You Norwegians Love conspiracies and see them everywhere.

[Making_Splinters]

He is lucky Paxman never interviewed him.

Not that I ever did listen to him, but it is clear what he meant, he has just made himself every single bit the idiot we know he is with trying to go back on it. Obviously this was a leak that Flower or the ECB thought better of so they have sent Selvey down the river hoping this issue can be buried by the hack taking the flack.

You Norwegians Love conspiracies and see them everywhere.

Casting my mind back to Selvey's rather bizzare arugments over what did and did not consitute a leak during the KP text saga, I'd not be entirely suprised if there was some truth in Sussex's view of things.