The enigma that is Kevin Pietersen

[hopeforthebest]

I said from the beginning that the manner of his departure was disgraceful but KP would do himself more good by keeping his mouth shut and scoring runs rather than indulging in these regular sniping tweets.

[budgetmeansbudget]

It's very easy to tell if someone is for or against Kevin Pietersen. The supportters call him KP like they actually know him personally and the detractors use his surname in order to distance themselves from the egomaniac.

[Making_Splinters]

If KP had any realistic ambition to play for England again instead of just saying he did, he would have played domestic cricket in England last year. Even KP must realise unless he's making LVCC and RLC runs he has zero chance of being re-selected.

[Arthur Crabtree]

This doesn't get us anywhere though. If he was told he wouldn't play again any plan to play cricket would be pointless. Obviously, denied his coveted England career, KP did the things he felt denied from doing over the years. But it didn't matter either way. Only this week, Whitaker said Pietersen wouldn't play again, absolutely. Saying he should have played county cricket, just feels like blaming him for a situation that was always out of his control. As Downton tried to do when he said the sacking suited Kevin.

If a girl told you she wouldn't date you even if it would end famine, would you then buy her a bunch of flowers?

[alfie]

I really don't think KP has any serious hopes of playing for England again...he is just keeping his name in the papers. Bit like Warne...
If he was originally sacked basically because his diminishing returns no longer justified his high maintenance costs in a struggling team in need of rebuilding (my view of what happened ) ; then everything that has come since has surely ensured a second reintegration is quite out of the question ? Which he must know. And certainly must have known when he released his book.

[Aidan11]

Paul Downton was a below-average wicket keeper who got into the England side courtesy of the Middlesex Mafia around the England team at the time.


There I said it.

[Making_Splinters]

This doesn't get us anywhere though. If he was told he wouldn't play again any plan to play cricket would be pointless. Obviously, denied his coveted England career, KP did the things he felt denied from doing over the years. But it didn't matter either way. Only this week, Whitaker said Pietersen wouldn't play again, absolutely. Saying he should have played county cricket, just feels like blaming him for a situation that was always out of his control. As Downton tried to do when he said the sacking suited Kevin.

If a girl told you she wouldn't date you even if it would end famine, would you then buy her a bunch of flowers?

Only this week we were told that the managing director of English cricket would be very suprised if Cook didn't captain England in the World Cup. When KP was sacked there was a general backing for the ECB in the press and a feeling of this being a new age. That has slowly but surely evaporated over the year and we're likely going to see further changes at the top in the ECB over the next year.

KP was vilified at the end of the Ashes, I'd say that presently Downton is a less respected figure than KP is.

If KP wants to play for England again then he should be taking steps to at least make it a possibility, however slim. I don't think that KP will ever play for England again, I can say it's a certainty if he doesn't score runs in domestic cricket.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I don't think KP feels he is high maintenance or even if it is fair to claim that. Most of the players in the touring party said he was one of the most helpful people in the squad. It is more normal that the coach or captain take the responsibility for such a terrible tour, but Cook got to carry on with increased backing, and Flower got a job that suited him better. Downton explicitly stated that Pietersen wasn't sacked for on field reasons (that would necessitate being only dropped) but for his 'disinterested' bevaviour. Those that were critical of Pietersen had something to gain by his removal.

And iF KP was going to be dropped on form, Prior, Cook, and Bell should have been just as vulnerable. And Trott, if he'd continued.

The only conclusion you can draw from Kevin not playing CC is that he didn't feel the need to play county cricket for its own end. But many, many players have felt like that once their England careers have ended.

But anyway, what I feel most strongly about is that KP wasn't suited by his sacking, as Downton has disingenuously suggested, he just made the best of the limited options left open to him.

[Arthur Crabtree]

KP was vilified at the end of the Ashes, I'd say that presently Downton is a less respected figure than KP is.

If KP wants to play for England again then he should be taking steps to at least make it a possibility, however slim. I don't think that KP will ever play for England again, I can say it's a certainty if he doesn't score runs in domestic cricket.

Downton has been a disaster. He should have gone for the leak of the ridiculous dossier, if not for breaking the confidentiality agreement. Never mind every single public statement he has made. That the ECB can't see he is damaging the reputation of the England team, further calls into question the decision making of the ECB.

Personally, on being told he would never play for England again, particularly as one of England's leading Test bats ever, I think it would have been humiliating for Kevin to have gone away and made a case for his place. As if he was living in denial. Like a man who won't believe his wife doesn't love him anymore, you demean yourself by still trying. I can see others won't see it this way though.

[hopeforthebest]

This doesn't get us anywhere though. If he was told he wouldn't play again any plan to play cricket would be pointless. Obviously, denied his coveted England career, KP did the things he felt denied from doing over the years. But it didn't matter either way. Only this week, Whitaker said Pietersen wouldn't play again, absolutely. Saying he should have played county cricket, just feels like blaming him for a situation that was always out of his control. As Downton tried to do when he said the sacking suited Kevin.

If a girl told you she wouldn't date you even if it would end famine, would you then buy her a bunch of flowers?

AC you keep on as if KP was a total innocent, which he clearly was not. As for characterizing his England career as coveted doesn't stack up when more likely the IPL that was more coveted. What is constantly ignored is that after his return to the England squad in 2012 his performances were in decline and was quite clearly no longer the KP of old.

[hopeforthebest]

KP is behaving like an aging actor who still believes he could play Hamlet.

[alfie]

I am not critical of KP for not playing county cricket. As Arthur says , he is making the best of his options.

But , without suggesting he is a bad person , I do think the fact that he very clearly couldn't work harmoniously with either of his last two coaches , or captains ; and had made plain his dislike of more than one of his other regular teammates , rather indicates (a) that he isn't the easiest chap to get on with ; and (b) that including him back in the group (even without Swann and Prior) would risk some side effects...even if he was making runs.

I think England have definitely moved on . Even if cms hasn't

[Arthur Crabtree]

I imagine he was opinionated, but that was in the service of what was best for England. He had a prickly relationship with Flower, and clearly he held grudges. I don't think you can hold the book against him as that was plainly written under the provocation of his sacking. Probably he is a bit annoying to be around, but who isn't if you spend your life on tour with them. I imagine dressing rooms at a time of adversity are always bad places to be, and I expect other players fell out.

The only thing I can definitely say he was in the wrong about is his wish to play IPL judged against his complaints of burnout. The text messages are difficult to call, because no one knows what they were apart from the SA players (who almost tragically used them to damage KP, when he was seeking solace through them from his problems in the England dressing room) and there was wrongdoing elsewhere which was ignored. And it wasn't really a big deal.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think England have definitely moved on . Even if cms hasn't :)

I get drawn back to this because people keep claiming that KP losing his England career was in his own interest, and he was at fault for not being able to revive it.

I don't think England can move on until they actually justify their decision. The disquiet over Kevin is part of a number of issues coming out of the Ashes whitewash. These are unresolved. Cook is still captain, Flower is still influential. Neither of these have been held to account for at least two years of decline. Only Pietersen. Only his stats are held against him. Flower left behind a huge crisis with hardly a team in place. Look at the XI for the Sydney Test.

I don't think Pietersen should have been sacked, and I don't think he should come back now. I think Flower and Downton can be allowed to go. Cook should lose the captaincy across the board, and I think he and Bell should be watched very closely regarding their places, given they were part of the same decline as KP. I would be looking at new players to take England forward, and I've a hunch Moeen would be a good leader of it. Then I'd see England as having moved on. New coach of course.

[Arthur Crabtree]

And apart from Flower (sadly) I think all that will happen in the next year.