Oh no! It's Kevinsgate!
Well that didn't take long, did it? Came in like a breath of fresh air, went out like a bad smell.
Remember that massive movie flop called Heaven's Gate. How long before they make KevinsGate and make all their money back?
What is it with Kevin Pietersen? I'm all for confidence but did he have to go and try and switch-hit Peter Moores - England cricket's Steve McClaren - out of a job? Couldn't he have nurdled him down to cow corner where Moores's buddy, Hugh Morris, could have consoled the bloke?
Michael Schumacher had a fair say on who his whipping boy was - if you drove in the same team as him you were number two (and sometimes it looked like he treated you like you were a number two 'n all) - but I don't know any sport where a team captain gets to tell his employers who the coach should be.
There's been intimations about the power of the players when Sven was in charge of the England team but, that feeble effort by Becks to be a footy quarter-back aside, Sven picked the team and the squad (not even Rio would have thought Crouch, a wounded Wazza, a dodgy Owen and a lad who managed to find cover for his paper-boy round was the best choice for the front players for Germany '06).
Pietersen may well have had good grounds for his grievances about Moores's style. Moores is not exactly a legend in the game (unlike KP who is already a legend in his own lunchtime).
On the other hand everyone seems to have grounds for their grievances against the skipper.
My little grandson Wilf has a few pals he brings around from time to time and the ones that are from posh stock have parents who let them get away with blinking murder. One tantrum and they get a bag of sweets. They're not stupid these nippers, so it's non-stop stropping.
Looks like it must have been the same with baby Kev. You just wonder how many times, as he learnt his trade in that hotbed of English cricket, Pietermaritzburg, that the little Kevin sneered at the other kids, scooped up his bat, his ball and his stumps and tottered back home, stopping only to have his barnet restyled on the way.
No wonder it appears that not everyone in the dressing-room was 100% behind him. I'd be amazed if he bothered to ask.
The ECB were right to get shot of both KP and Moores, but why didn't they call an end to the civil war before this point was reached, people might ask? Perhaps they reasonably thought that no one in their right minds would go and tell the papers about it.
Nah. This is KP's fault and it's a shame cos as a skipper he had his strengths, not least the fact that he managed to get the full squad out to India following the Mumbai atrocities. All the players deserve credit for that, especially given the well dubious reasons for some previous English cricket tours to other places beset by political problems and violence.
KP's relentless positivity was refreshing, although it's not very English to just accentuate the positive all the bloody time. I wonder how much gallows humour was permitted in the dressing-room during that one-day thumping when Yuvraj was increasing the wealth of the average Indian citizen by sending them free cricket balls every five minutes.
Strauss'll do fine as captain though. He did last time and should've been skipper for the last Ashes catastrophe. He's got the well-bred chin of a chap who knows when to keep it buttoned. He's a safe pair of hands - except when he's at first slip.
I'm sure he'll consult Kevin as and when he needs to: batting tips for example, as KP's probably a slightly better left-hander than him!
As Aggers has said it'll be a funny old atmosphere in there during the Windies tour, but I think it might work in England's favour. Pietersen will want to spend as much time in the middle so expect some massive hundreds - that's how Sir Geoffrey used to deal with problems.
Meanwhile, England need a new coach. Everyone's mentioning Moody - but I thought he just resigned the captaincy, ho-ho. Ah, but that was Mean'n Moody, you mean Tom Moody, right? The bloke who should've been asked in the first place, except there was a whiff of the old boys network back in play so Moores was the Merrier.
Can we really expect an Aussie to support our boys through an Ashes series? Hell, why not? Get Troy Cooley back too, maybe Warney'll help where Mushy leaves off with our spinners. Actually that Stuart Law fella could replace Bell, and let's give Pattinson another fling. Surrounding that Saffer with Aussies and it might shut him up a bit.
Whatever the problems with KP, and he's proved that when it comes to captaincy material he's right up there with Ahab, he's the best batter out there, and, more fortunately, he's batting for England.
Let's hope he can take it out on the Windies in two weeks time.
I'm Derek Robson. People call me Robbo. Legend has it I was raised in the furnace and smog of Teesside. Some might say I took the hard road. I like to tell folk I had trials for Middlesbrough, for Hartlepool and for burglary (not guilty). I've always loved sport. My job is to say it as I see it - whether it's in the bar of the Blue Bell or on this blog. You won't find me calling a spade a soil-redistribution implement.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~43~RS~)
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Good read, Robbo. Not as funny as usual but I still enjoyed it.
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Good read, but you're really really letting both Moores and the ECB in particular off the hook.
KP deserves a chunk of blame but so do they. Nevermind if the ECB didn't think it would end up in the papers, they seem to have approached the whole situation with all the take-charge go-getting attitude of Frank Spencer.
Everyone KNEW Pietersen was this kind of player and captain, and already had greivences with Moores...why were they caught so totally unprepared for something like this?
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"Moores is not exactly a legend in the game"
He's had 18 months in the job, of course he's not a legend in the game; quite clearly you clearly dont grasp the fact that Peter Moores had fantastic success at county level, taking a massively unfancied team to their first ever title, with a budget that was far lower than their rivals, such as Surrey, Lancs and Yorks. What more could he have done at that point?
He took over a team that had been whalloped 5-0, and was at an ebb that was lower than most observers wouldn't have thought possible so soon after 2005. People in cricket consider 3 years to be the sort of time when you can fairly judge someone in a coaching capacity, so this clearly betrays your main interest, football, where coaches aren't given the time necessary to succeed, constantly hounded as they are by the likes of you.
Your posts are usually an entertaining read, when they're about football, so stick to it, and leave cricket to someone at the BBC who actually knows what they're talking about. And get off Moores' back, you idiot.
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Funny how when KP was smashing centuries against Aus his origins were hardly mentioned. Any Saffas or Aussies who brought it up were branded 'bitter' or 'sore losers'.
Now the various cricket blogs (and this one) are filled with comments about his South African roots and how he was never fit to captain England. Perhaps English supporters could come up with clear criteria as to when someone is English enough and when they are not. Would Nasser qualify? Greig? Hick? Smith? Jardine?
Meanwhile Strauss takes over the reins (been here longer than KP, but two Saffa parents not one, however more acceptable accent for the Longroom). When he resigns one day expect to read how Johannesburg-born Strauss failed again.
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How can KP look his teammates in eye now that he knows they didn't back him? Even his ego has to take a knock from this.
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Robbo,
Stick to footy mate. This "cricket" lark is out of your depth.
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I notice that you, along with other members of the media have been less vocal about Strauss being a "Saffer" TOO .... Born in Johannesburg and played his first cricket "in that hotbed of Cricket"... Australia
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All this talk of Moody - he's hardly doing a good job as coach of Western Australia. They're getting hammered every week.
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My tuppence worth.
Robbo entertaining as ever but you have missed the mark.
KP caught with the smoking gun but who?s the sniper on the grassy knoll and his accomplices.
The ECB are wholly and totally responsible for the entire fiasco.
The power struggles, rampant egos, team factions are screening the people ultimately culpable. Who's job is to manage English cricket, to manage the England team, to provide support structure to aid the team.
The ECB.
The ECB have spectacularly failed in their efforts in past 6 months with respect to their duties.
Who gave the England captaincy to KP in the first ? The ECB
The ECB choice was controversial, but having chosen him, support the man for God? sake, warts and all. I?m not KP fan but he has my sympathy in the treatment his had from his employers.
The ECB must surely have known the nature of the beast and should have been able to handle his less than diplomatic manoeuvres. The fact they have left the situation to terminate in such public farce betrays their own shortcomings.
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except at first slip?? robbo are you forgetting catch of the century in the 2005 ashes??
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What is this "cricket" you speak of?
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This simply isn't cricket, Robbo.
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Pietersen was only in the job for five months and the ECB decide to chuck him out? Surely it would have made more sense to have kept KP, got rid of Moores and let KP prove himself and his leadership style in the Ashes. As you say, it would be giving in to a toddler tantrum but the England cricket team needs continuity, not constant upheaval. The Aussies might not be doing so well at the moment but this can only galvanise them. I can see a potential trouncing during the summer.
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I normally agree with you on most thinks Robbo, but not on this,
KP didn't leak to newspapers, Before he wrote the article in the NOW the ECB had already leaked the rift between KP and Moores,
His problem was that he should have come home earlier and sorted it in private instead of fighting in public through the tabloids
The so called players who didn't like what KP was doing all supported him in India, and now have stabbed him in the back. What chance has Strauss got when it seems the squad will turn on him if they don't like something he does.
What happens if KP decides enough of this i'm off to the IPL to earn some big bucks?
It will mean bye bye ashes, because we won't win it without him
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I thought Collingwood had the right character to be the England captain, but that he wasn't given enough time to build himself up with a few mistakes.
Leave Collingwood as Captain for 5 years, and you poms will rebuild a fighting side. He may be a bit weak, but then most englishmen are. But I think Collingwood has what it takes to harden, like a good steel.
The thing to remember in all the farce is that the English are not irredeemable, as a people.
Not even as cricketers.
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Post 3, pretty much agree with everything there. Comparing Moores with McLaren is way off the mark. Why does Robbo give Moores so much stick when he's only been in the job a short while, works really hard and has achieved so much success at domestic level by transforming Sussex?
You also say KP's relentless positivity was refreshing but haven't you been critical of Moores for always seeing the positive?!
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"Moores is not exactly a legend in the game"
Robbo's right jonah. Moores is not a legend in the game unlike, say, Bradman and suchlike. Nobody's talking about whether he would've become a legend or not so your angst doesn't look justified.
Ignore these sourpusses and keep writing on cricket Robbo, you're doing just fine.
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Can't you lot allow a man to dabble in the waters of another sport? Hellfire. Btw, the catch of the century was taken at second or third slip I believe.
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Strauss may prove to be a better choice than Pietersen.
However, there are two consequences of this debacle:
1) The players must not trust the press at all. Any journalist who appears to be friendly is merely after gossip. (hello Bose, hello Agnew)
2) Hugh Morris cannot be trusted either. Leek is his favourite vegetable, and not because he is Welsh.
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Wherever Strauss took that catch, it (and many others) shows that he's pretty reliable at slip...
Good article. People who say Robbo's out of his depth are talking dollocks; his style is so unique that it's always interesting to see his take on any sport, and he does - contrary to popular belief, it seems - know enough about cricket to write an article of this sort on it. Obviously, if he started getting technical...
Strauss will be great, because his batting isn't that great, so when the captaincy makes it go tits-up (as usually happens) England won't suffer.
It'll be like the glory days of Mike Brearley (batting average of about 23, didn't bowl) as captain. I always said it was stupid saddling England's best batsman with the burden, even if he was a pretty good captain (during the matches, that is).
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KP? or gay p
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stick to football - cricket isnt your thing
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Hhhmmm, a lot of people taking everything a little too seriously methinks!
Robbo's comments should be taken with a pinch of salt, rather that some of you fellas jumping up from your mail on sunday, coughing and spluttering!
Personally, for what its worth, I dislike KP. Always have, always will. Is it not clear to everyone that his PR skills are an attempt to increase his IPL worth?
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Not convinced you are in possession of all the facts Robbo.
KP was ASKED to write a "Mission Statement" by the ECB, on how to move the team forward. He said he could not see it moving forward with Moores in charge.
This was all info that the ECB knew when they appointed him, but when it was leaked to the media they felt they had no option but to sack Moores and ask for KP to resign.
KP will be man enough to front up to the flak, from what i hear most of the dressing room wanted KP to stay.
I agree with one part though, KP will spend all his time in the middle in the West Indies, to avoid all the dressing room talk that will no doubt go on.
Also, even if KP heads off to the IPL he will be available for the Ashes, and who would blame him. He knows he will walk back into the side, and he will be a bit richer when he does.....
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