Pietersen's gamble too far
Kevin Pietersen always has been a man to chance his arm.
Perhaps no-one should be surprised that someone who happily switch-hits one of the world's best spinners for six risked his job as England captain in a who-blinks-first contest with Peter Moores and the ECB.
This time, however, the gamble has not paid off. After a mere three Tests as England skipper, the reign of King KP appears to have come to a rapid end.
There's something terribly English about the whole sorry shaboodle. Just as the Australian team looks to be at its weakest in a quarter of a century, with a home Ashes series just around the corner and barely a ticket left for any of the five Tests, English cricket has taken careful aim and shot itself in both feet.
Other countries lose their head coach. Others lose captains. It's to be expected. But it takes a special kind of skill to lose both coach and captain on the same morning.
It's less than six months since Pietersen began his captaincy with that blistering century and win in his first Test in charge, less than four weeks since he was praised to the rooftops for his handling of the team in leading them back to India after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Even then, however, the whispers were circulating.
Pietersen was unhappy with Moores' boot-camp approach to training. Senior players were unhappy with Pietersen's leadership style. Pietersen wanted Michael Vaughan back in his team; Moores did not.
Something had to give. Coaches and captains have to respect each other, if nothing else.
England's rebirth after the low point of home defeat to New Zealand in 1999 came about in large part because of the relationship forged between skipper Nasser Hussain and coach Duncan Fletcher, and continued with the mutual admiration society of Fletcher and Michael Vaughan. When coach and captain saw things differently, as Fletcher and Andrew Flintoff did during the last Ashes series, results went downhill fast.
What no-one foresaw was that Pietersen would be the one to go. While his record as Test captain was perfectly average - one win, one draw and one loss - his star was still in the ascendancy.
He was averaging 52 in both Tests and one-dayers as skipper, up on his numbers before his appointment as captain, and clearly relished being the man in charge.
As his former Hampshire and England team-mate Shaun Udal says, KP wanted the job as England captain "very, very badly".
Moores, having lost four of his seven series as coach, was supposed to be the man in danger.
That both have lost their jobs leaves England rudderless, drifting slowly towards the rocks at exactly the time when a firm hand at the tiller was required.
They leave for the tour of the West Indies in exactly two weeks. In that time the ECB must find a new captain and a new coach, reunite a team seemingly split in two and then convince the rest of the country that this time they've made appointments that will work.
What now for Pietersen? This is the first real set-back he has suffered since leaving his native South Africa in 2001.
The captain's job was the pinnacle of his career. Having lost it once, he's unlikely to be offered it again.
Will the siren call of the IPL now drown out his loyalties to England?
His adopted country must hope not. Pietersen's Test average is better than anyone else's in the team. In the last Ashes series, he scored 490 runs at over 50 an innings. Without him, a middle order which is already patchy starts to look positively threadbare.
England cannot afford to lose him as a batsman. And even if he does commit to the cause - and Pietersen has always been intent on becoming the best Test batsman in the world - how does his ego cope with being demoted to the ranks?
Whoever takes over as Test captain could find himself in charge of a team that contains four previous captains - KP, Flintoff, Paul Collingwood and Vaughan - with his star batsman bursting with resentment.
Then there's the one-day team, thrashed in its last five matches, tactically exposed, so far behind the pace this winter that it became embarrassing.
The likely Test captain, Andrew Strauss, is not in the one-day squad for the Windies tour. Unless the selectors decide to perform a humiliating about-turn, that means a return to split captains, something which has failed every time it's been tried in the past.
Pietersen's singlemindedness and self-belief have been key to the success he's enjoyed as an international cricketer. Unfortunately they may also now have contributed his downfall as England skipper.
Ricky Ponting must have gone to sleep in Sydney wearing a smile the size of the harbour bridge.
I'm Tom Fordyce and I cover cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics and - well, most sports except monkey-tennis.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~22~RS~)
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If England can't make it without saffa ring ins, they don't deserve to make it anyway. At least this way English cricket keeps its pants up. I also suspect that anybody who claims they didn't see more ego grief in KP's future as captain is no scholar of human character.
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Not sure how much Pietersen really did want the captaincy, and this ultimatum gos to prove that i feel.
In a passive battle, he was always going to be the victor over Moores, so why not wait for Moores to be sacked. Instead, he's forced the hand of the ECB into an unavoidable situation.
That isn't the kind of wisdom and England captain should be displaying
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England have just lost potentially their greatest captain.
Even when they lost, they lost with character. That confidence and attitude of a WINNER was slowly trickling down to the rest of the team (even if it meant a short term lack of success, but hey, things can't change overnight, despite what Agnew might think).
Unfortunately, the English officials just don't want to be winners.
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Stupid time for this saga to happen. IPL beckons Pietersen, although given the chance he might take up the captaincy again - just the kind of thing the ECB would do!
I say get rid of Collingwood and Bell who have been dead weight for England recently, and bring in Rob Key and Owais Shah. Rob Key is attacking from the front which England lack and he is the most experienced candidate having won T20 with Kent etc etc.
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This is a good news, KP was not a good captain, he's our best player and should be left to do his job...scoring centuries.
The 2nd Test's 2nd innings apart, KP has not done that great since the SA ODI series last year!
Moores was not up to the job, no harm in it but he was promoted far too early and Moody should have been appointed......the ECB mesed up!
Strauss is a good captain, did well in Pakistan and lets get Key and Shah in the team..not just the squad!
Strauss (cp), Key, Cook, KP, Shah, Prior,
Flintoff, Broad, Harmy, Anderson/Jones and Swann
No room for Colly (Bell dropped) in a 5 man attack, Freddie is not a number 6 batsmen anymore.
Colly would be picked if you wanted a batsmen heavy side, like last Test in deciding series if draw is required (e.g. 2005).
As for Ricky Ponting, he is a terrible skipper, he still sets fields for Warney and Mcgrath! They struggled against an injured saffer side; at the end of an awful 5th day pitch in Sydney! They got spanked in India and at home by SA and they will be lucky to win a Test match in SA in February. Johnson apart, the other bowlers don't look good enough and are very inexperienced. Even with Stuart Clarke, Lee and Jacques/Rogers picked?I still think we would win.....but England MUST get the selection right!
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I'd like to know what really caused this.
I suspect it's KP's ego in large part.
I can just imagine him thinking, whenever Moores made a comment/decision,whatever, "what the ---- do you know about it? you never played international cricket". He would have more respect for someone with a great playing record or even proven international coaching experience.
Options are limited. Long term I think he'll be back as captain when the dust has settled in a year or two.
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i find it hard to fathom the depths of idiocracy of the ECB!
we have one of the best cricketers in the world in KP and yet the board decide to treat him with contempt when he makes his wishes clear. he wanted MV back in the team and understandably so. KP is an inexperienced captain about to undertake a tour of the windies and wanted the reasurance that an experienced senior player would bring to back him up.
i appreciate that MV has been off form however the guy is a class cricketer and still has a lot to give to top class cricket.
come back fletcher, all is forgiven!!!!
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Comment #1
If you don't want "saffa ring ins" I take it Strauss won't have your vote for Captain. Similarly, Prior nor Shah have a place in your team. England has always had players from other countries in there ranks, and I don't believe Pietersens dedication to his adopted country is in question.
I do find it impressive how in a dispute between 2 people the ECB manage to side with neither. This just makes English cricket look more of a laughing stock then it already is!
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it is laughable that this news should be classed as 'breaking news' on BBC News 24.
it isn't news at all
it's irrelevant and useless news
a tedious sport. a minority sport pumped and hyped by a media that deems cricket to be important.
A media dominated by posh boys from grammar school who see cricket as the true epitome of englishness and therefore saturate press to exhaustion
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"Whoever takes over as Test captain could find himself in charge of a team that contains four previous captains - KP, Flintoff, Paul Collingwood and Vaughan - with his star batsman bursting with resentment."
So what? This is a problem only if the players have inflated egos over and above their real worth. Dhoni's team vs the Aussies had Sachin, Dravid, Kumble, Ganguly ... all ex-skippers. And yet the team conducted itself magnificiently and Dhoni's gesture of asking Ganguly to take over the reins for 30 minutes was simply fabulous.
KP's bloated ego clearly indicates he wouldn't have been successful as skipper at any rate. And the ECB have at last displayed their courage and forthrightness by delivering a blunt rebuke to KP. I think this will only help the England team in the long run.
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Who cares-its only cricket-probably the most boring sport on the planet next to F1 and synchronised swimming.
Play more hockey.
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I'm not entirely sure why people feel that this is Peter Moores' fault. Pietersen is the one that precipitated the whole situation and exacerbated it through his column in the News of the World.
I'm not saying that Moores is necessarily up to the task but this whole mess does not seem of his making.
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Spot on, for the most part, but I take issue with the statement that split captains have 'always failed'. Can you cite statistics showing that the teams have been more successful under a single captain than under split captains? The ECB's preference for a single captain is based purely on their whim rather than what's best. The other test captains are also ODI captains because they are good enough in both forms of the game. England may not be so fortunate, but that doesn't mean we should be scared of split captains as a concept.
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Whilst Andrew Strauss is the easy option, is he the best? With Ian Bell's poor form, I think Rob Key as captain and No. 3 would be a better bet.
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No doubt KP and Moores had their faults but the ECB is soley to blame for this mess. I do not believe for one second that KP and Moores resigned of their own will. The ECB should have done everything possible to rectify the situation and allow time before taking any action. I can understand them being angry with an ultimatum and I believe this led the ECB to force the resignation of KP.
Even now the dirty dozen cannot issue a statement.
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#11 I find hockey the dullest sport on the planet, but I respect your right to enjoy it. But you won't find me on the hockey forums spouting off about how boring it is and urging people to get into cricket.
So get lost.
Same to you #9 - if you're not interested, don't click on the link
"it isn't news at all
it's irrelevant and useless news"
so is it news or not? make your mind up.
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Pietersen is confident, agressive, positive and single minded, all qualities that the ECB lack in abundance.
The problem with English cricket is the relation between captain and coach in the selection process. Either one or the other has to have sole responsibility for selection, not some sort of vague, gentleman's understanding, blame the other one if its wrong policy that typifies the ethos of the English cricketing establishment. The coach should select the team, as in football or rugby, and the captain should captain on the field, whether he agrees with team selection or not.
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The morning just past has been a bigger balls up that the entire 5-0 whitewash. Anyone got Vaughan`s number?
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Rob Key brought in as captain?!
Yeah right.
I'd rather have Chris Cowdrey
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I am fan of K Pietersen I do not understand why the coach is still there.
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Absolute joke. That is all.
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The ECB created so many problems for themselves by asking that golfer to compile that stupid report.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Under Moores the batting of Bell, Cook, Collingwood and Flintoff has gone backwards, Harmison has gone downhill, and Broad and Panesar are not fulfilling their enormous promise. We are better off without Moores. Pietersen had to go too because senior players were split between the two men; unless your dressing room is right behind you then it's unwise to force issues. How ironic that Moores was right on the immediate issue (Vaughan should not return - Boycott says his footwork is late to the ball which is why he has scored no runs, and sadly you don't come back from that).
This need not be a disaster. Strauss can captain as competently as he did as stand-in, and it scarcely matters that someone else will be in charge of the one-day squad. KP will continue to bat magnificently, and we can recruit a better coach. The pressing issue is to forge unity on the imminent West Indies tour. The Ashes depend on that. As for the ECB - cricket was better run by MCC.
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England are a severely average team selected by past-their-sell-by-date selectors guilty of appointing a sub-standard coach.
KP is an outstanding batsman, but certainly not a diplomatist. (see job description).
So, Australia, prepare for a whitewash*
*Who whitewashes who(m) will doubtless depend on the soap powder used.
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#19?
In the English game, who has more experience than him? England Lions captain pushing for a place in England side. Please don't ridicule a suggestion without saying who is better!
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The ECB are to blame for this fiasco, mainly because they made such a terrible decision in appointing a man with such an ego as captain in the first place. It is however a good decision to nip this obviously inept captaincy in the bud. It says everything about Pietersen that he expected the ECB to succumb to his bully boy tactics. If he stays then good but if he goes to the IPL that will tell you even more about his character. Now lets hope we can get rid of his mates who should not be in the team and say goodbye to Vaughan for good.
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It was inevitable that it would all end in tears. But we are in the pantomime season and English cricket is challenging Newcastle United for top ratings !!
The culpable parties :-
ECB for giving the role to Pieterson in the first place when it was inevitable that there was real friction betwenn the two. Also, the appointment of Moores should be looked at as he has no credible playing experience and it was always likely that he would struggle to gain the respect of top international players, especially those with ego's the size of a planet like Pieterson
Moores is culpable only in that he has failed to deliver since being appointed coach. This may be down to the fact that he was not in harmony with either captain, but gaining their respect is a pre-requisite of the job. If he backed down when Pieterson was appointed then he shouldn't have. Pieterson is a top class player we would all agree, but he is deeply resented by many senior players in the English camp (we all know that).
Finally Pieterson - who does he think he is ? Yes, he has a batting average of 50 ish, well so does Haydyn, Tendulkar, Dravid, Kallis, Hussey, Ponting - but do they "lord it" and position themselves as bigger than the team, of course they don't. I remember the circumstances around him leaving Notts all those years ago and the spots haven't changed. Of course people will be worried about his toys being chucked out of the pram, well so be it if he does. You just cannot have a guy coming in and dictating in the way Pieterson is obviously trying to.
In summary, the best decision the EC can make is to dismiss Pieterson given the current circumstances even if their ineptitude led to the situation in the first place.
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What a mess, the first thing to note is the regularity with which the ECB involves itself in a shambles or handles something shambolically (or both).
As for the immediate future of the national cricket team, its hard to see it being anything other than a disaster. The best batsmen has had his notable ego damaged, and regardless of the lure of the IPL (which could now become the straw that breaks the camels back if he is asked to choose between the two much longer) he may struggle to stomach going back to being a regular member of the squad.
The best bowler, Flintoff, appears to have the ear of a number of other members of the squad (most notably Harmison) but harbours a dislike and/or resentment for Pietersen.
A new coach and captain will have to be brought in, and they will inherit these problems along with a out-of-sorts, mediocre team. The new captain, Strauss or Cook I assume, will presumably have to take on the One-Day and twenty20 captaincy as well. If it is Cook or Strauss to say they are not ideal players for the limited overs versions of the game is something of an understatement.
But the biggest problem of all is that Australia now look settled and problem free in comparison.
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As one board member told Cricinfo: "People who want to keep their jobs don't issue ultimatums."
Sums KP leadership skills up.
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The Blazers couldn't run a Church Concert.
Why do we always entrust the sport we love in this country to a bunch of useless Muppets. Cricket, Football, Rugby, even the minority sports are lumbered with glory hunters seeking a seat on the gravy train.
It's time they were gone, let the players run sport, begone with the parasites.
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No9,
if it isn't news, how can it be irrelevant news??
Make your mind up!
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Another epic fail in English cricket.
The sad thing is the people @ the ECB won't be held responsible because there is no accoubtability.
Although I suppose a lot of them won't care because County cricket is far more important to them, sod the national team.
Maybe they can compile another report, ignore the important suggestion(s) and fail again.
Meh.
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We had no chance with Moores at the helm - he's worse than useless at this level. KP has done the team a favour - take the positives from this one
Moores and sling your hook too!
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Alot has been said of Pieterson's ego but I fear it may be the ECB character flaws that has caused this sorry mess. They should of acted before any "ultimatum" was given, it was clear to see that the coach/captain relationship was dead and buried and a team cant perform with that leadership.
Further, the ECB need not of reacted like the uppity clique they are afterwards, claiming KP was dictating to them, a word with such horrid connotations, when merely he was expressing the need for change that they should of already identified, that stinks of greater ego than any act of the captains.
Finally, none of this should be public, for KP to make an ultimatum is one thing, but for it to be publicised is another, Moore's position and Kevin's are untennable purely because of the ECB. And who's in place to solve this crisis...Oh no...
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Proof (if any were required) that the dimwits at the E (&W) CB are as competent as the buffons at the FA and the dolts in charge of rugby union.
Worse, not only are they clueless, but they are also spineless. Rather than take a stand and side with either the captain or the coach, they take the easy option of dismissing both!
Given the choice betwen Pietersen's record as skipper and Moores' record as coach, I know who I would have gone with.
If there were factions in the dressing room, the simple answer would have been to let KP pick the team, assisted by the coaching staff, as necessary. Personally, I think having Vaughn back in the side would have been a positive move for the upcoming series against the Windies and the Aussies.
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Nail. Hammer. Whallop!!
Spot on in your assessment Tom. What a ridiculous state of affairs by all parties involved!
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Here here #16 I agree, if you don't like cricket I coldn't really care, I wouldn't tell them its wrong to like a specific sport.
To be honest though doesn't everyone just find the whole situation highly embarisising I have to agree with Tom's sentiment that "English cricket has taken careful aim and shot itself in both feet" lets hope that something good can come from this mess
I wonder if its worth giving Flintoff the Captains job for a while, he's surely the most respected Man in the dressing room if he bats at 7 maybe that would work Daniel Vettorri manages that afterall
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one word - disaster. moores was the wrong guy from the start and, in not making a clean break when appointing pietersen as captain, the ecb have yet again created another unsolvable and embarrassing mess. pietersen could have been the man to re-fire (is that a phrase?) the england team but now, much as i respect strauss as a cricketer and, indeed, a captain, his position and authority are under threat from the start.
the ecb knew what they were getting when they appointed pietersen and, given his talent and personality, and potential to turn this team into champions, should have backed him.
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If you let Pietersen pick the team without any constrictions he would have had his wife in the team inside a year.
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Funny times for English cricket... Surely the ECB was aware of Pietersen's mentality and personality when he was offered the job in the first place...? A demand like this may not be wise but it hardly seems out of character for the man! If they wanted somebody to just tow the company line surely he'd've been bottom of the list?
For the future it's tough to say really... Strauss and Freddie have both stepped up temporarily before but I'm not convinced either of them have quite what it takes to do it full time... I'm a massive Colly fan, but again he won't be in with a shout following previously leading the one day side...
Vaughn back? or look toward an Alistair Cook maybe?
It'll be interesting to see how this all pans out over the coming weeks, someone's got to be in charge by the time we land in WI and i personally suspect Strauss has it tied up.
Let's just hope KP sticks with the side regardless and all of this is sorted out in time for the Aussies arriving...
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30. At 2:37pm on 07 Jan 2009, Bourne-mouthy wrote:
As one board member told Cricinfo: "People who want to keep their jobs don't issue ultimatums."
Sums KP leadership skills up.
Also sums up the overblown egos, fragile mentalities and "no blame" culture permeating the ECB, don't you think?
I'm glad Pietersen decided to deliver a rocket to those stuffed shirts...even though it cost him the captaincy.
If the bigwigs at Cricket HQ can't take a little criticism (or in this case a forceful expression of opinion) then I fear for the future of national cricket in this country.
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Thank God he's gone, A brilliant player, but the only thing I heard him talk about was pride and passion. Not cricket.
An ill thought out appointment by the ECB once again. Thankfully though, they've corrected it.
FIGJAM is great as a player, but a poor captain. Give it to Strauss... which should have been done last time round.
Can we actually sack the ECB though, (two shocking decisions - Stan the man's crick circus and appointing KP) remove the coffins from the long room and bury them under the square at lords?
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Whilst there's no I in team, you can, if you look very carefully, find Me.
KP thought his talent and worth to the team would outweigh some pretty (on the face of it) shabby backstairs politicing, and I bet he's currently wearing an expression on his face similar to the one Graeme Thorpe always used to put on when he missed Courtney Walsh's slower ball...
Where next? Guess Strauss as skipper, though not long ago he wasn't in the team and looked totally lost with the bat. Would quite like Cook to get it, as Athers did all those years ago, with a remit to go out and build a new team, but doubt it'll happen, especially as Cook probably won't be in the one-day team soon either.
English cricket is always entertaining - though not always for the right reasons...
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#9 - I admire someone who finds something so irrelevant and useless yet still finds the time to comment more or less at length on the issue.
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After the enjoyable article last week outlining Australia's poorer than usual showing in 2008, many of us had to begrudgingly admit that perhaps the days of England's wonderful on-field capitulations were at an end and that is was high time for us to return to the drawing board in order to get oursleves in shape for the upcoming Ashes series.
What better way then to start 2009 than for us to secure a consolation Test win, retain our number 1 World Ranking and watch on in astonishment as the ECB and their International Superstar attempt to find new and even more inventive ways to impede their chance of success.
Thanks to all involved.
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The fact that KP has gone, whether of his own accord or not, means he wasn't suitable in the first place and shouldn't have been picked. I thought at the time it was a big mistake to appoint someone so relatively inexperienced and would like to have seen someone like Rob Key chosen for a couple of years with KP as vice. Key, vastly more experienced as a county captain, a strong character and a very good batsman, whether in 1-day mode or longer would command respect and seems to be a good motivator and an intelligent skipper.
It is obviously time for some big changes to get the players out of their in-crowd, comfort zone situation where there are guaranteed huge amounts of money by their central contracts. I think the likes of Vaughan, Harmison, Panesar, Collingwood and Anderson should have their contracts terminated and the rest of the players should be warned that they, too, are under threat if their performance and attitude doesn't alter. Peterson and Flintoff seem to be the only world class players we've got and, together with Strauss, seem to put the effort into their game time and time again.
KP and Freddie must both be millionaires and could both afford to take it easy and go to the IPL for a few years but they don't because they are real cricketers who will, justifiably, take their places amongst the all-time greats in the history of the game.
What we need now is a new approach, a new coach and captain who can work together and instill some discipline into the team, make hard choices like leaving players out when they are not suited by conditions or are out of form and take the pressure off KP and Freddie letting them just play cricket.
Please God, let's use this opportunity to start again using people who have only one thing on their minds, making England the best test team in the world!
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No one is bigger than tean and especially a cricket team.
It doesn't matter how good he is or thinks he is: KP is not bigger than the national team. Being a captain/leader takes more than talent!
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I'd like the Vaughn from 2005 back and playing for England but I don't think that will ever happen. The captaincy and lack of form took its toll, he's too far on in his career to recover now, damn shame.
I think you'll have to stick within the current England frame, I don't think Rob Key is the answer, only if he's been selected a few times could he be considered. I don't think it suited Flintoff, especially as he's injury prone.
Maybe Cook, he's still fairly young but Smith was a baby when he took captaincy for SA.
Who else is there?
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40. At 2:49pm on 07 Jan 2009, DWALDO wrote:
If you let Pietersen pick the team without any constrictions he would have had his wife in the team inside a year.
Well, given the number of professional cricketers that have been tried and found wanting...maybe Mrs Pietersen wouldn't be so bad! :-D
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#48
I meant to say, no one is bigger than a team and especially a "National" cricket team..
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What a riduculous state of affairs the ECB has created for itself.
It should have been Moores to walk as Petersen is still needed for the team and has proven himself to be both dedicated and able apart from cotninuing to be our only world class batsman.
But regardless, the ECB should have singled out one or the other
To lose both is pure idiocy.
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KP is a gambler who plays to win,who would rather come last than second. He overplayed his hand.I only hope he doesn't quit the England team altogether and go to India to chase the cash.
Moores was appointed too quickly without enough consultation with senior players. KP probably got the job too early.We may yet see Vaughan back as captain by the summer if he gets some runs in the meantime expect an experienced player namely Strauss to become captain.
This is at its source a systemic failure of management.
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No 9 - if its so irrelevant then why bother posting a comment!
I too think that Pietersen has rather a large ego, but look at Graeme Smith - he has similar personality traits and look how well SA have done in Australia - you need to have a degree of arrogance to be successful in sport.
I think its a shame, he could have gone on to be the best thing that happened to England for a long time, regardless of where he is from, ( I refer to comment No 1!)
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I hate people complaining about the 'ego' of KP. What is the problem with an 'ego'? in this country we ridicule people who strive to be the best. Look at the best sportsmen over the years Ali had a massive 'ego' or others like Ronaldo, McEnroe even Woods. Why in this country do we discourage such chracter traits when clearly its what you need to be the best.
As captain lesser players follow the best, Arsene didnt pick Fabregas because he is the most vocal on the pitch but he is a born winner. I cant see KP following some fringe player like Key. Anyway what good is it being captain if you dont get the players you want to work with.
Cricket is already a dying sport which is on its knees why take away its only asset.
ECB is a joke and has as much ability of leadership as the FA.
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As a South African I still feel some lingering bitterness that KP doesn't play for us. But I have to say he can be a bit of an idiot.
I still feel he's the right man for the job though...Flintoff is better off without it...Strauss is a good guy but is not really Skipper material.
One thing you know with KP is that he would have always takes to the opposition no matter what...Graeme Smith is the same and he took a long time to mature but now he has come good. KP would have too...rifts in the team would have worked out if the ECB backed KP...you have to ask yourself
WHAT ARE THE ECB DOING!
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re comment 8:
I'm neither for or against saffa ring ins. I Australian, and we have our own problems. I don't care if you brits roll Big Kev in batter and fry him. Do what you like.
I was just pointing out that there are 10 other guys in the team, and if they fire up as they did the last time they won the ashes, we'll be in for a good series.
And if they don't, KP is pretty much irrelevant.
See, KP is not a bad batsman. But he is not some sort of divine cricketer. He is not what the british press made him up to be. And so now he cannot measure up, and is branded a failure by the supporters.
I think the british press and the grubby gossip readership has got to take a lot of blame for the way their teams suffer individual pressure in the media, for the sake of selling gossip to small minds.
The one man team is a myth, and you guys (the press and pundits) damage the team by focusing public expectations on this guy, then that guy. Never the team as a whole.
If an Australian player started acting as big headed as KP, he would have be sorted out in the dressing room by his team mates, not by the press.
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twinFinn - "probably the most boring sport on the planet next to F1 and synchronised swimming. Play more hockey." HOCKEY?! It makes cricket look like rollerball.
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Thomshow respect your comments about KP'S ego, don't have a problem with him at all, he's brilliant. But calling Key a "Fringe player?" That's unfair. Key could do a good job as skipper which is not all about the individual's own skill [although that matters]. I remember Brearley skippering Botham successfully and you wouldn't get a bigger contrast in ego or ability than that!!
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The bad thing is Pieterson will probably still keep his position in the England squad but just not as captain but still getting paid vast sums of cash while Moores will be out of a job entirely.
There is a kind of irony here that English media sources and cricket players were rubbing their hands together about Australias' demise in world cricket and then just to make sure that things don't go smoothly they decide to have a clash of egos and cause this fiasco.
Is anyone else thinking that English Cricket players have a bit of a ego trip issue anyway starting to verge ont he same level as premiership footballers?? Premadonnas thinking they are untouchable becaus they played in a $1m match??
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It doesn't matter how good you think KP is, one thing is certain, you can't have the tail wagging the dog.
Once a player in any grade of any sport starts to make demands of the administration of the him or me kind, then it's the me that should go.
As it is KP was not a great captain, threw the first test in India due to negative tactics.
Has done very little with the bat since becoming captain.
Strauss should have had the job when Vaughan packed in and should get it now. There is no other candidate in the squad. Please don't start shout for FF, let him stick to what he can do.
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It's a tragic shambles that couldn't really have had any other outcome at this point.
I feel that KP's captaincy is a bigger loss than Moores. The former had IMHO the makings of an inspirational and visionary captain with a good cricket brain, despite being by his own admission quite green tactically. Even now I don't see his actions as evidence that he is out for himself rather than England. Egotism and arrogance is not to be confused with with boldness and strong-willedness, both of which would have been virtues the England team could have used. His handling of the post-Mumbai situation showed the man manager that he could have become. It shows poor judgement IMO to give someone like KP the captaincy and then tie his hands, especially by imposing questionable team selections upon him like the ones we saw in India. KP is quite capable of cooperation and listening to other peoples' opinions - if he respects them. Isn't that why he wanted Vaughan back?
And let's face it, Moores has been pretty average as coach. Results have been poor and players have gone backwards. Regarding his rigid training style, I would back KP to have a better idea of his and the team's coaching needs than someone who never played at any great level. The best thing England could have done would have been to give KP a freer reign before it got to this. The guy is a winner. England need them.
However, KP crossed a line by going public. Though I still think it was an excess of strong-willedness rather than selfishness, it was certainly unprofessional and divisive. And without the support of the dressing room, his position is untenable.
Pity, but if Strauss captains like he did against Pakistan in '06 before being unceremoniously stood down, then all is not lost for England.
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Pietersen left the ECB no option but to let him go, how could they let him dictate to them over the phone sat by a pool on his holidays?
Has his record as captain been THAT good yet that he thought he could do what he liked? He has beaten a poor NZ team, won a test against SA when they couldnt be arsed (se result against the Aussies in dead rubber) and been trounced by the indians and Windian 20/20 team.
I would have had no objection in him demanding this that and the other if this was a year down the line and he had numerous Series wins under his belt (including the ashes!)
His appointment as captain was a mistake, his lack of cricket intelligence was shown up in India.
We were underperforming before his appointment, dubious that it improved with his appointment, and doubt it will change much after the new captain is appointed. Hopefully he will be back at some point as batsmen, but hopefully not as captain again.
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55 - I was not complaining of his ego - a little ego goes a long way as I mentioned about Smithy, it seems that some people do detest the fact that KP has an ego, but without it, he would not be the successful player he is today.
Its how South Africans are bred to play sport - with arrogance - and as you can see, thats why we are so good at it!
I too felt bitter that he does not play for SA -but if you got the opportunity to play for England - or any other country that offers you the opportunity, surely you would grab it! If he chooses to go to India now I would not blame him.
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#35 for me has it spot on.
If the entire cricketing world could see that they weren't gelling, and it wasn't resolvable, why didn't they take action? And given that they hadn't taken action, how could KP have phrased it better? "I don't think I'm able to work with this guy, what can be done?" is pretty much an ultimatum dressed up in flannel, and KP has never been one for flannel.
I've not been KP's biggest fan, but to be honest it's hard to imagine how he could have done anything different. Should he have sat on his hands and lost Test after Test until the ECB finished lunch? If anyone else had been made captain, would they want their record and reputation soiled by bad results from a bad working relationship? I doubt it.
So actually, KP's ultimatum was the statement of fact that we all knew was the case anyway: it's him or me. The word that the morons of the ECB got horribly wrong was 'or'.
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Why would Pietersen want Vaughan back in the team? He only became captain because Vaughan resigned, and Vaughan was only hanging on at the end because of his captaincy skills. So Pietersen wanted Vaughan, the man not scoring runs, back in the side, but not as captain?
Makes no sense, but then very little about this story, or English cricket at the moment, makes much sense.
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Why not appoint Strauss as captain with Vaughan as coach. Could be worth a try.
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Shame... poor KP. South Africans (and Smith in particular) will bear his misfortune with great fortitude.
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#9
Now steady on old chap!
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I reckon the ECB knew that they should sack Moores but keep KP however,
Hugh Morris is one of Moores' closest personal friends having played together since they were in their teens...
As such he wouldn't have wanted to be seen to take KPs side so sacked them both...
But I hope i'm wrong on that one.
As for split captains, well, it hasn't done India any harm. In fact quite the opposite, MS Dhoni has been honing his craft in the one day arena for donkeys and whenever Kumble couldn't play he stood in and did a marvellous job. In particular just recently when he stepped up to close out the series against Australia in the last 2 tests.
People have criticised his defensive tactics recently but i don't understand why. He did what needed to be necessary to win the series...
We would do a lot better if we followed India's recent model of using the one day team as a bit of a feeder for the test squad.
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England
Strauss(c)
Bopara
Pieterson
Shah
Cook
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Hoggard
Sidebottom
Coach:- Anyone got any thoughts on coach?
Remove Gibson and Flower
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The other test captains are also ODI captains because they are good enough in both forms of the game. England may not be so fortunate, but that doesn't mean we should be scared of split captains as a concept.
---------------
And if you don't have a single player up to it then it shows a weakened side that is likely to lose anyway, hence the poorer results.
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I can't say I'm surprised at the cause - the problems between Moores and Pietersen were well-known when the latter took the reigns last summer.
I can't say I fault Pietersen if he did what he did for the benefit of the team, but obviously this is the aspect that's being called into question.
I very much doubt that the two's differing opinion of Michael Vaughan's benefit to the team was the cause of these problems - more like the straw that broke the camel's back.
Pietersen wanted someone in charge who has greater international experience - either as a player or a coach - than Moores, but the way he has gone about trying to instigate the change has left all concerned with egg on their faces.
This is far from a crisis though. England will field largely the same side who beat South Africa in the last Test of last summer and played well against an India side that dominated Australia. The problem is uniting the squad and focussing them on a single team goal.
Give Strauss the captaincy for the Tests, Freddie for the ODIs and make Graeme Swann Entertainment officer for the duration of the tour.
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'Thank God he's gone, A brilliant player, but the only thing I heard him talk about was pride and passion. Not cricket. '
Given he was the captain of the national side I would have thought pride and passion would be quite relevant and important and, possibly lacking in some of the players. As a captain you lead from the front and that is exactly what KP did.
Bad choice by the ECB not to back him but, their consistency is impressive.
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#55
Ronaldo, McEnroe and Woods are best or were the best in the world so earned the right to strut, KP is merely a good batsman nowhere near the top of the tree.
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GoonerWinTheTreble
Firstly, your name suggests a tendency to show blind loyalty to regardless of what evidence you have in front of you. Kent fan, by any chance?
You as for someone who would be a better captain than Rob Key.
How about any of the 11 players whose place in the side is decided on merit?
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Unfortunate day for English cricket. They have lost a great player. ECB should have replaced Moores earlier as what happened today was not unexpected.The world has lost a great player. you will get many coaches but you wont get a player of Pieterson's calibre. I hope better sense prevails and Pieterson comes back before the Ashes otherwise I can see an England whitewash.
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KP wanted Vaughan in the team to give him advice on tactics. If so KP did not have the nous to be captain and should never have been appointed. A talented batsman yes, but also a bloated ego.
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It's hard to write good comedy.
KP and the ECB (by appointing such an arrogant, self centred man to begin with) have done it without really trying.
My respect.
Although the one critique I do have, given that so much of comedy is timing, wouldn't it have been better if all this had happened after England are 2-0 down in the next Ashes?
That would have been not just funny, but tragic.
Sigh....
Are the bookies offering odds on KP finding his commitment to his adopted country suddenly fading, in the wake of such treatment from an ungrateful England (prob how he sees it), and him scooting off with wife and diamond ear rings to the IPL?
Before the Ashes, just to shaft the Poms.
It's possible...it's not certain...but my crystal ball is showing me a fuzzy vision of what's to come.
Keep up the good work one and all.
KP please defect to the IPL so that everything I suspect about your character is shown to be true.
:)
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The guy is not even English, he is South African and should never have been allowed to play for England. Makes the whole nationality thing a farce.
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strauss is confirmed as to captain in west indies please let him keep it permanently
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DWALDO: "KP is merely a good batsman nowhere near the top of the tree."
Actually DWALDO, he's ranked as the fourth best Test batsman on the planet. Surely that's "near the top of the tree"...?
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yeh 4th of current batch-he is no ponting lara tendulkar shewag dravid yousuf s waugh gooch gilchrist hayden border sangakarra but to name a few
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Typical........it reminds me of the farce in the RFU in 1995 when the 57 old fart's sacked Will Carling on the eve of the World Cup in South Africa, only for him to be re-instaed a week later.
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KP is a dynamic cricketer.He wants to win and like his counterparts in the cricket world they all have tremendous egos-its why they are so good.Its therefore not unreasonable to expect a person with such passion for the game to want the very best for the team he captains.He wanted the best players and best coaching staff.Whilst he was captain he got neither,hence why he wanted to make a point and sacrificed himself. Hugh Morris and his cronies are all failed test cricketers,nobodies in their own lifetime and have no idea what makes the great player,how could they?.Its just not good enough to elect a coach from the county circuit who knows nothing about test cricket,the gulf between the two games is vast-its the difference between pie throwing and fast bowling as has been harped on about for years.Only the very best coaches will do at this level and the same goes for the players.Regretfully,English cricket still lives in the past,the same past which Austrailian cricket dragged itself away from 15 years ago.The result was world class players and a world class coach.Even now as the South Africans are on a high after beating Austrailia the truth is even with KP in the England team we couldnt have competed with either side and won.Why?because establisment English cricket doesnt want the "its my turn to be top dog in the ECB"to be challenged. Its a power struggle at board level and nothing to do with cricket and what drives passionate players or gets them into the England team.For that you need passionate coaches and passionate selectors who want to win at any cost-after all who remembers losers?
I fear that KP will now leave English shores and go where he is appreciated for what he does best.He should have never been made captain because the selectors should have sat back and thought "what if"knowing full well what consequences would have been.Instead their weakness shone through after Vaughan decided enough was enough.I believe Vaughan was also put in an impossible position over a pretty poor coach but even then these selectors couldnt see it.If cricket wants to survive in this country and compete with far superior teams then it has to go through the Austrialian experience or perish. English cricket? R.I.P!
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R.i.p english cricket-when was it actually born
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Captain and Coach disagree and results slide? 4 Series defeats in 7 including an Ashes whitewash?
Seems to me like Moores is the problem.
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Typical ECB, appoint an inexperienced coach without much thought, then appoint a captain with a huge ego!!! It's was all bound to end in tears....
The one massive chance we had of winning back the ashes has just been blown out of the water...The Aussies must be loving it...
How long before KP signs on the dotted line for the IPL? Not too long I think!!!
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God what a mess! I don't see a natural successor to KP. He wasn't everyone's cup of tea for sure but I came round to him because of his un English (I know, I know but what the hell?) attitude to winning.
So who will replace him? Not Flintoff. It would be a backward step and he was never the man for the job (see Botham's efforts for a similar example). Not Vaughan. Come on, it can't be a consideration. Nor Key. I'm sure he is a good batsmen (and Captain for his county?) but he isn't in the England team. That would be some promotion no? Collingwood's own place is constantly under threat and his batting would surely suffer with the added responsibility of the captaincy, plus I don't think he really wants it. Cook is far too young and is not a punchy Graham Smith type character. He'd have to deal with a disgruntled KP (presumably) and all the other ex captains in the side.
Which leaves Strauss. Who should, in my opinion, have got the job ahead of Freddie last time around and that could have been the making of him THEN but now is a different matter. I think he is too much of a nice chap (see Cook above) and I also think his confidence will have suffered by being passed over twice for the captaincy (Freddie and KP getting the nod ahead of him). Finally he is not in the one day side at present so that's another little conundrum for the ECB to sort out.
Desperate times for England I fear and what a shame when Australia are looking at their weakest in years. On that, I heard a rumour that Warne could replace Moores. Surely not but not a bad shout!
Finally to twinfinn and supawireless (11 and 9) and anyone else who hates cricket and finds it dull etc etc, what is your problem? I don't have a go at Hockey on Hockey blogs twinfinn and supawireless
might I suggest that you stop being chippy and get back to work?
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We generally agree that moores is a poor coach and a big part of the problem but who would you hire as england coach
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What KP brings to England is an incredible desire to win. The way I see it he took a look at recent results and felt that there is no way he could go to Australia with the present coaching set up and win, therefore he needed to change things now rather than later. He therefore called the bluff ie. either you give me the support I need to get this team into a winning situation or I back out, but I won't be saddled with results that are contrary to my expectations. His own performance during the captaincy actually improved in terms of averages and he is the only England player on current form who would be considered for a World team. Surely someone within the ECB could have found a way to bridge this problem and if Moores was as compassionate about Englands performance surely he would have figured out a way to smooth things over with his best player, or did his ego also get in the way?
The next question to ask is whether or not the senior players performances were affected by a desire not to perform under KP's captaincy which would have shortsighted and unprofessional and if thats the case then it has to come down to coaching and ability.
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No. 86
Try wiki
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dougcoglan
My comment was purely to emphasise that england have been a supposed sleeping giant for as long as i can remember-they have and never will be the best team in the world! To say rest in peace england cricket suggests england have taken a huge fall-but to take a fall you must reach a height-we are yet to reach a height
I didnt actually want to know when england became to exist within cricket
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KP should sign with the IPL. It is absurd that the EPL don't peek out of their mole hills for a few mins, see that it's 2009, and tweak the schedule so the England players, along with the rest of the world's best, can play in India for a month, have some fun, and make some money. Instead, they sign up for the embarrassing in every way Stanford Super Series (which was neither a series nor in the slightest bit super), resulting in their team being front and centre of that collective laughing stock.
Let's face it, KP was never qualified to be captain. He has precious little (any?) experience leading any team, very few team's best players make the best captains (in part because what they do comes naturally, not from figuring out how to eke out a tiny advantage to make up for their less than top notch skill), and not being born English probably doesn't help in terms of commanding the dressing room. The schedule was a problem as being asked to learn on the job isn't easy when your second and third tests are in India.
The solution would have been to make Vaughan 12th man, and have him give KP field placement tips from the sideline, when he takes out the water during drinks breaks, and whenever he subs for an "injured" player, which could comfortably be 75% of the time England are in the field.
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86., the death of English cricket has been forecast many times - why do you think we play for the Ashes? Just remember, we invented the game, took all around our Empire at the same time as improving the lives of billions, maybe reports of England's death have been exaggerated just a little by all those countries with a chip on their shoulders!
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Nice article.
Heartening to see the journalists make a volte face and call a spade a spade. While KP was appointed the captain he was praised to high heavens, especially after the win against SA, but he was not really judged on merit.
I think it was a huge step backward for England cricket the day he was appointed. I am glad they saw some sense and he is not the captain any more. Strauss is a decent appointment, there aren't many others who can be appointed. It is not even clear in this team who can always definitely make the starting XI or even selected for the squad, so at least making a captain will assure Strauss that he will be selected for all cricket.
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it beggars belief that pieterson was appointed captain in the first place in light of his relationship with the coach.
laughable
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"supawireless"
'a tedious sport. a minority sport pumped and hyped by a media that deems cricket to be important.
A media dominated by posh boys from grammar school who see cricket as the true epitome of englishness and therefore saturate press to exhaustion'
Oh dear oh dear. Firstly 'posh' kids tend to go to schools that require a fee rather than Grammar schools which don't. Secondly, I think Strauss is the only public school boy in the squad. Thirdly, I am not sure what sure when the press will be saturated until 'exhaustion' but it has a long long way to go. Just imagine the paper mills turning if the FA had sacked coach and captain. And lastly what the hell is a minority sport? Which sports to the 'majority' enjoy? Last time I checked there were a billion Indians who would argue with you.
All in all not a great post.
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#91 - I agree entirley.
Firstly, I didnt like Pietersen as captain, a great batter of course but as captain I wasnt so sure.
But in my view he must be commended for his actions here (OK not the ultimatum to the ECB), at least he got the balls to do what he did, criticising the role of Peter Moores when many of the players would carry on reagrdless, being 'Yes' men to safeguard their central contracts.
Its a shame they dont display the same confidence on the field as KP, if they did we might just become a good team.
For me KP hasnt done it for his own benefit, he must have known he was risking his position as Captain, he has done it for the team, which in my opinion will benefit in the long run.
We see this ego/confidence (whichever you choose to call it) in his batting style and the results are there to see in his averages.
So time now to drop the overtried and trusted and ultimately failing deadwood like Colly and Prior and get some young fresh talent in the team, players that are hungry for success and are willing to work hard to achieve it.
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If anyone wants an insight into the way the management of the ECB conduct themselves try reading David Lloyds' autobiography "anything but murder".
Not botherd who captains the team but please take Mike Watkinson as the new coach then we can be rid of him.
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I don't feel sorry for Moore's as this is how things end for English coaches. In acrimony. He must have known that before he started.
As for Pietersen I think this was somewhat inevitable. He's too clever to be taught by a coach and certainly won't stand for one telling him to run some laps. A coach needs to be in charge, but I don't think Pietersen would ever accept that. The more authoritarian the coach the more conflict with Pietersen becomes inevitable.
He thought everyone else saw him the way he saw himself. It appears he was wrong.
For all of his flaws I hope he isn't lost to international cricket. He's a prodigious talent.
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I like the lead article. In particular - "something uniquely English about this....to lose both a captain and a coach at the same time takes a special sort of skill....." We do seem to have a habit of messing it up. Keep your eyes on the RFU whilst we make a ball up out of the Martin Johnson situation next. Rob Andrew has had enough time to be well and truly buggered and trained in the ways of the shoot yourself in the foot brigade. I keep wondering about emigrating, because sometimes I cannot stand this thing which feels like Englishness. (Sorry, I am not going to though - the £ is too weak). What is it do you think that characterises this thing which is Englishness? In how few words can it be described? Of course there are merits to it, we won the war didnt we, we had an empire once, didn't we.
Is it hypocrisy? Elitism? Shooting yourself in the foot? The old boy's network? The stiff upper lip? The belief that people in positions of authority know better somehow? A willingness to be servile? Colonialism?
What ever it is KP doesnt have it. He brought a breath of fresh air with him - a brash clarity and sense of purpose. Oh well, there are more important things than doing well at cricket.......lets get back to digging ourselves out of the recession.....something's bound to come along and if it doesn't we took to rationing rather well...didn't we?
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Countries earn the right to have chips on their shoulders-if england were the best in the world they would certainly have a chip on theirs! England think they are invincible everytime they lose against a so called lesser side its the death of english cricket-try dominating world cricket for 15 years and then when you lose a few series then it deserves to be the death-not after losing to 2 much better sides and losing possibly the worst coach and worst captain england will ever see! Mid table test team they are-world beaters never
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#78
Hint of double standards? Surely recognising his own inexperience by wanting advice from Vaughan is evidence of a lack of ego? He would be more arrogant to assume he could do it all himself, surely...
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The worrying thing is Pietersen could go totally 'couldn't care less' in his batting attitude. Then there is actually selecting a captain who is guaranteed his place-is Strauss really guaranteed to be selected? Collingwood is in abysmal form. That leaves the injury prone failed pedalo captain Flintoff and Cook.
Cook is the only one I could consider. Maybe he could be a Graeme Smith type captain?
As for the old Robert Key arguement-are we really bringing this up again? A 15 Test Match veteran with an average of 31! Averaging 11 against Zimbabwe, 17 versus Australia.
A weighty choice in more ways than one. Do we really need someone more devoted to pies and tabs than physical fitness?
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105. Like it
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Thank goodness KP's gone. maybe now england will pick an intelligent, team orientated captain, instead of that stereotypical "star" player.
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BRING BACK VAUGHAN!!!!!
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107. Do you know what leadership looks like?
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Shambles - Straus is the only choice for captain - coaching a big hole need to get the English test greats attracted to coaching rather than taking about it on TV or radio
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Anyone asking for Strauss as captain needs to think about his game over the past two years........
He is just getting back to his best, but is still having to concentrate 100% on batting when he is in the middle. If you throw the captaincy his way this could completly ruin his rivival, also its time cooks name got bought up in this because his batting perfromances have also dropped. Owais Shah is a great player but i think the selectors see him as a ODI player. Unfortunate to lose KP as captain aswell.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Strauss only lost his form because after leading england to victory against pakistan and averaging 55 in the same series-the legendary ecb decided to give flintoff the captaincy in australia! So a player who thrives on responsability and confidence began to question what he had done wrong! Add a 5 nil drubbing and a farcical tour all round-2 years of torture and soul searching! He deserves the captaincy and will be in the same mould as vaughan in terms of tactical nous
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Just to add to the last post i dont think strauss will sleep with englands best players wives forcing them to retire into county cricket during there best years
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What many comments to this article forget is that cricket captaincy is very different to captaincy in other sports.
Yes, qualities such as agressiveness, will to win , leading from the front etc are important, but the best cricket captains are those who can read the game and also make the whole team play well. I would guess that Pietersen's single-mindedness is not a positive attribute in this role.
To relate this to past England captains, Pieterson seems more like the impulsive Tony Grieg than the more reflective (and successful) Mike Brearly. His words and actions in the last few days appear to bear this out.
England's key issue now is to find a captain who can make their best batsman (Pietersen) feel he is still wanted and part of the team. Only those with a reasonably intimate knowledge of relationships in the England dressing room can make that decision.
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INDIA!!!
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115. And that's different from other sports?
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Just wished I had backed by hunch 8 weeks that he may end up playing cricket back in South Africa. A brilliant player but only tolerates certain people and definately will be in IPL. It was only a matter of time before the big fallout with someone. Its really sad because as a player England need him.
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114. Who slept with who?
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I think we should give the ECB a break.
They appointed Moores as at the time it seemed he was the popular choice with the players.
Yes the team has slightly struggled under him but Fletcher was in charge of the Ashes whitewash and the poor results against the top teams is primarily down to other factors-Flintoff's injuries, Harmison's loss of form, the loss of form of senior batsmen (Strauss, Vaughan), Panesar's insecurities..
Moores really cannot be balmed for that-ask S.K. Warne about how little influence a coach really has. If Harmison fails at the top level-for a man of his experience and age-well Moores can't do much apart from not pick him.
The ECB then made KP the captain which again was applauded at the time. Finally English cricket picked a man who was a winner, confident, arrogant etc.
It was a brave move which ahs not worked due to KP's bullying.
I applaud the ECB for getting rid of both parties- a captain cannot dictate to his employers.
The ECB also had alot of other issues to deal with-it involved the England team in the Stanford Series, it has planend the 2020 tournament next summer-all this to stop our top players from joining the ICL.
The ECB are in a tough position and I think it is unfair to easily blame them.
As someone who will be at the Barbados test I really hope KP does not turn his back on test cricket.
England have good players-good young players coming through and could win the Ashes-they just need to get themselves together.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Just heard that the ECB will be making a statement about all this at 1800 GMT - Hugh Morris is due to appear at The Oval and read a statement.
If you fancy watching it, we'll be streaming the video on the front page of the Beeb Sport website.
Also, latest word is that KP definitely resigned, as opposed to being sacked...
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KP may have some desire to earn the megabucks of the IPL, but he is very proud, some would say arrogant, so there is no way he is going to walk away from Test cricket, and the chance to get his name up in the pantheon of all time great players.
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What a mess!
KP had to go as skipper, you cant demand a coup after a few months of questionable results, i would have loved him to stay but he simply had to go.
Moores wasnt developing the younger players and we remained tactically clueless, he had to go too, should have never been appointed when there were people with the calibre of Tom Moody interested.
The ECB? Its easy to shoot them down for this, Moores was a bad choice and KP a risky one, but they have got a lot right selection wise in the last decade...
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Surely no-one is terribly surprised it has all ended in tears. Too many comments (mine included) questioned KP's motivation in the England team over the years. I've never got round to mentioning his demise at Notts either!
Moores clearly is wrong for his job as well - and the ECB have behaved unprofessionally all the time.
You got it right Tom - shot ourselves in both feet alright!
There is no real contender to put this right before the Ashes. Yet again, English cricket finds itself trying to rebuild for the future. What about the present.
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120. I was with you until you reminded me that rather than manage the schedule for 2009 well, the ECB are clearly making it difficult for players to participate in the other competitions that players in other countries will be able to play in. More reasons to give them a hard time, not less.
You are right though. This isnt about Moore's or KP, its about the ECB and that why it's a mess. What this situation needs is a decent leader, and what does it have a British Lord who ran Tesco who is rather partial to the old sport you know, in charge!
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Pietersen was obviously the wrong choice in the first place and so this is no surprise. Moores going too is awkward, but I do not think that this is the disaster everyone seems to think it is. Strauss should be captain anyway and is good enough for the ODI team (not that it matters). There are plenty of good coaching options out there who are less controversial/better experienced than Moores. And as for your comment Mr Fordyce that the ECB have to select someone that can win over the "dressing room and the country", what utter tripe. The dressing room yes, but what has the rest of the country got to do with it? If the new regime win over the dressing room, the Ashes and the country will follow.
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121. Agreed
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Well what a shock, KP's ego has caused problems again - who could possibly have forseen that ? Everyone except the ECB, it seems.It's only the leitmotif of his life - he even left SA because his ego couldn't cope with the end of apartheid and its consequences. He left Notts because they didn't worship the ground on which he walked and pretended they couldn't understand his English; at Hampshire he has made precisely no friends (am not counting Warnie, mercenary fly-by-night b****r and genius that he was, as he and KP are peas from the same pod), and it's unlikely he will as he doesn't think much of County Cricket nor, apparently of the people who played and coached it..Now he's made a charlie of himself and lost the captaincy we have to wonder if he'll play properly for anyone else.
The great shame is that Strauss lost form when he did, otherwise he was a shoo-in for the captaincy, which I hope he gets now and plays well enough to keep for a while, if nothing else to get some stability back in the side. As for the coach's position, Lord knows - Moores came top of the ECB performance programme thing by miles so the cupboard is pretty bare as far as England are concerned - Sir Clive Woodward, anyone ? Or how about offering it to Fergie (on camera), just to watch him explode ?
PS #9 - Jackass, grammar schools ain't posh..
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So now we lose KP like we lost Gatting because of the ECB's self-righteous pride....
Hopefully this time they will finally appoint Strauss but they seem so reticent to do that.
Still now that Moores has gone maybe Hoggard can come back in for Sidebottom the county trundler who got his wickets against NZ and WI and has been poor against SA, Sri L and India.
I just hope KP doesn't feel so let down as to self-impose a Boycottesque exile....
Why does English Cricket always end up the loser against our selectors and bureaucracy???
If it is not dropping Gower or sacking Gatting for having sex it is dropping Hoggard and employuing Moores.
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Another update for you - KP has just released a statement saying he is fully committed to going to the West Indies with England in a fortnight's time.
"I fully intend to be part of England's tour," says his comment.
So that changes things a little - probably rules out more than a brief two-week spell with the IPL, and indicates that he intends to be an integral part of the team for the Ashes this summer....
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the ecb are a bunch of tree hugging surrender monkeys, there approach is old fashioned and will lead to no sucess.
kp is the best thing that has happened to english cricket in a long time if ever.
the only way the ashes can be won is if he is in charge (micheal vaughan cant bat any more, even if he is the only other who can captain us to victory)
Shane Warne for england coach!!!!!
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Radical as it sounds to all of those who think that cricket adminstrators are a bunch of stuff-shirted toffs while Kevin Pietersen is the king of cool, the people's champion, this is absolute twaddle.
KP comes from a well-to-do white South African family, more priviliged in upbringing than just about everybody - with the exception of Andrew Strauss - in the England set-up. Certainly more so than the "hard knocks" Peter Moores.
KP is a wonderful cricketer and England is lucky to have him. He also had the makings of a pretty good captain on the field. What this incident appears to show is that he is lacking in leadership.
A true leader would understand the different requirements of the two jobs - captain and coach - and respect them. He would do so behind closed doors, respecting the value of a tight dressing room.
Most important a captain recognises that the team is more important than the individual. It is telling that Pietersen did not have the full backing of his players.
KP showed immaturity in making a public row with Moores and in handing in a set of demands to the ECB.
ECB boss Hugh Morris, who is a man of the highest integrity, and - for those who have short memories was also a highly respected captain of Glamorgan - was absolutely correct to accept Pietersen's resignation.
We have not yet seen the full story of Moores' contribution to the dispute but it looks as though he has had to be sacrificed to sate the other side of the debate.
As to who comes in, I can think of no one better in the short term than Andy Flower as coach and Andrew Strauss as captain. Disruption will be minimal, egos will be kept in place and England - with Pietersen in the middle-order - will win in the West Indies and reclaim the Ashes...oh if only life was so simple.
Cheers from the riot zone...
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What an amazing development! I wonder what betting odds could have been obtained at Ladbrokes on such an outcome? Has this ever happened before?
To think I actually believed we were running our cricket team better than we run our football team. Seems the FA have been passing on advice on how to run things.
Only Strauss is suitable as captain now - forget about the rest. This means there is no way he will get the job! KP is not a team player but we all knew this beforehand. At least Vaughan will be better appreciated and respected for how good he really was.
I was so looking forward to the Ashes but am not so excited now after this. I cannot wait to read the flood of emails from my pommie-bashing Oz friends. Oh, God, they are going to be loving this! Hope we do not get whitewashed again!
Cheers, Joe.
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This reminds me of one thing, the England football team and the F.A.
None of these boards or associations can handle anything like this, time and time again they come away with egg on their faces ruining the national team and pride.
I pulled out of my regional team and a chance to play for my country because of people like these fools who think they are above the people who really matter, i.e. KP.
Do what Rugby Union did in 1995 when they sent a rocket up the ****s of those 52 old men slowing down the game.
Sack the ECB i say, get them out and some fresh faces in, ASAP.
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I don't think Fred being given the captaincy is such a bad idea. Yes, fair enough, he didn't have the best of times in the last Ashes series down there, but talk about being thrown in at the deep end.
Give him a home and away series against a decent team in the Windies, and give him a chance. He's the same sort of talismanic figure as KP, but without the inflated ego. I think he'd bring a lot of confidence to a team who have lost theirs.
If it's not to be him, then the only alternative IS Rob Key, like it or not. Like others have said, he's been Lions captain for some time, and is a decent batsman. But overall, sort it the chuff out ECB!!
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If that's your avatar in the top right, you kind of look like KP, Tom!
What's all this "shooting in the foot" talk? England's #1 problem has and continues to be that the players are a bunch of primadonas. The centrally contracted players simply do not exhibit the level of personal discipline and commitment that players of yesteryear that had no safety net, took responsibility for themselves.
KP was doing great until he caved into the BS speak, after ODI 5, saying, "I think the public saw some good cricket". A whitewash is never good cricket. Before, when he was being real, regarding the Stanford debacle he said that they had been to distracted by everything but cricket. That was spot on. For a while there he saw the beastie clearly. Unfortunately it seems to be a classic case of "we have met the enemy and they is us".
On some level the ECB know this. The "primadona only" mindset was clearly Fletcher's. Since Moores took over England have used real people, like Ryan Sidebottom, Owais Shah, Stuart Broad, and the like to keep afloat. This "have to look international class" rot started with Nasser Hussein's captaincy. When he led the England squad out for the last Ashes Test, I knew it would be a whitewash. Then, Ashes over, we drop the primadona requirement, bring in Paul Nixon, and romp all over the Aussies.
It's down to character. The really sad bit is that you could put 4 squads together using the county pros that have been just the opposite throughout their careers. You have to play cricket well, before you can play good cricket. The Aussies have shown over the last year that it doesn't matter how good your cricket is if you don't play the game well. England are still trying to win by trying to win. Obviously, on all accounts, they have learned nothing from India. The only England player with Indian longevity- read character- was Marcus Trescothic. I'd be clinically depressed too if I had to be a part of the learned helplessness that is the ECB, and more power to him that he went back to real cricket rather than indulge the "if you ain't international you ain't shite" mentality.
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Post 133 - Excellently written and spot on. Everything you say is correct and makes sense as far as I am concerned. Shame yours is the most sensible post to date as it's down at the bottom along with mine!
How is the situation in Athens? Has it calmed down in this freeze we are all enduring? I have to assume you are not Greek as no-one Greek can know so much about cricket.
Anyway, get a job writing about cricket from Athens - I would read it!
Cheers, Joe.
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In reply to supawireless, I would like you make those comments about posh grammar school boys to a yorkshireman or for that matter a lancastrian! Also cricket as a minority sport, yeah, thats why the worlds largest sporting stadiums with a few exceptions are cricket stadiums and also think of the frenzy of the sub continent whilst making these comments,
KP is our best player and for those of you who are placing the blame squarely on him, Supawireless is right about one thing, the media have blown this a little out of proportion over recent days culminating in the situation we find ourselves in, Athers got it right apart from one comment saying the situation was unhealthy and a solution needed to be found (KP news of the world) neither KP or moores have actually said anything public so the fact that it is public is somewhat down to the ECB for not dealing with the issue adequately and also the media stoking the fire.
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ElGreco #133, that's what you call a great summary, wholly agree- Flower has the background, skill and international pedigree to command respect in the dressing room and, having dealt with genuinely dangerous basket-cases like Chingoku when with Zimbabwe, should find the muppet show at the ECB an absolute doddle. Which probably means they're going to pick someone else...
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Post 139/141 - sometimes being a little bit away from the front line can help you see things from a different perspective.
Yes, we still have problems here in Athens - policeman shot yesterday - big strike called for Friday...hopefully no one was given tear gas as a Christmas present.
Not too much cricket here although you may be interested to know that one club in Athens has managed to secure the Olympic Equestrian Centre as a ground. This is a major step forward for cricket in Greece.
See this article:
http://www.sportingreece.com/kb/article.asp?fIndex=2636
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Firstly, Supawireless, why don't you build your calluses commenting about something you're interested in rather than questioning the relevance of a sport that MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD are interested in. Anyway, KP has gone too far, I actually support the ECB on this one and hopefully Strauss - who should have captained the last Ashes and possibly beyond - will be installed. I cannot understand anyone who thinks it's ok for KP to make ultimata in this way. Hopefully, he will come to see this and possibly captain England again. Would it have been an idea to maintain him as captain in the one day team? Who the hell are they going to make one-day captain?
Personally, I am more concerned about recent selection policy and the make-up of the team, more specifically, the Bell/Collingwood problem. Our openers are very similar too. It does seem that Shah and probably Key deserve their chances and a run in the team. Anyway, press conference time.
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Right - here's KP's statement in full for you:
"Contrary to media speculation today, I wish to make it very clear that I did
not resign as captain of the England cricket team this morning.
"However, in light of recent communications with the ECB, and the unfortunate
media stories and speculation that have subsequently appeared, I now consider
that it would be extremely difficult for me to continue in my current position
with the England cricket team. Accordingly, I have as of this afternoon decided
to stand down as England captain with immediate effect. Notwithstanding my
resignation as England captain, I still fully intend to be a part of both
England's Test and one-day international squad to tour the West Indies next
month and to do all I can to recapture the Ashes during the summer.
"I wish to add that I have principles in my professional and personal life as
to how things are done and during my time as England captain I have always been
both helpful and direct in my communications with the ECB. At no time, contrary
to press speculation, have I released any unauthorised information to the media
regarding my relationships with the players, coaches and the ECB itself.
"I am extremely sad and disappointed to have to relinquish the captaincy at
such an early stage, especially in a crucial year for English cricket, in such
circumstances and particularly when I feel that I have much more to offer the
England team as captain. However, this decision will not affect my determination
to continue playing international cricket for England, doing all I can to win
matches for the team and supporting whoever captains the team in the future."
So there we go - he's fully committing himself to England. At the same time, what about the comment about only having resigned this afternoon?
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Too much drama. I havent come to terms with it yet so all i can say is: goolarbgabbawarreasfispkfpsfpskfrgarrrrrrraaaraaahhhh
When i calm down i can asses this situation properly.
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...and now this: Strauss confirmed as new England skipper, although no news on whether it's for both Test and one-day teams or just the Test team.
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A good player with no captaincy experience made captain and a young coach with no international experience appointed at the time with indecent haste follow the departure of his predecessor.
For all of their faults egos, boot camps and the like, neither were ever really suitable for the job they were appointed to, so who really is at fault here?
Answer - the stuffed shirts at the ECB who are totally out of touch with the modern game.
The plain truth though why there is all this debate is that there is no outstanding candidate for either post at present so you feel that whoever gets it is only going to be doing a holding job.
That aside shouldn't the coach coach, the captain captain and the selectors select? seems to me that neither jobs were limited to what they ought to have been.
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Unfortunately all this does is to prove that Pietersen was never captain material, far to much ego, and to resign over such a matter is really rather petulant.
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Response to supawireless
You clearly are a dullard who seeks attention by posting mildly contentious comments on a blog contributed to by genuine fans of a genuine sport, please save your fatuous comments for someone who's remotely interested.
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//to resign over such a matter is really rather petulant. //
He didn't really have much choice left after Sky News started the "KP's Resigned" hare running first thing this morning and then all the other media vultures picked up on it instead of waiting to see what had actually happened.
Job done for the Aussies methinks, and all it took was one story on Sky.
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The saddest part of all this is that STrauss will probably be given the job. This is a proven failure as he has never come to terms with Australia.
Now we are going backwards again, just when the team was being led by an aggressive character, to match the likes of Ponting, Smith, and other such captains.
MV should never be selected for England, he simply is nowhere near good enough. Its time for the new breed to come forward. I would be playing the following batting order.
Cook
Broad
Pietersen
Flintoff
Shah
Bopara
Wicketkeeper tba
Mascherano
Pace bowler tba
Pace bowler tba
Panesar
Try Broad as an opener, since his technique looks sound, and on what Ive seen he just may be the right man for the job.
There is lots of batting, and bowling options in this line up.
Im not sure who the pace bowlers should be but take whoever is in form. The wicket keeper dont matter, we dont have anyone who can bat and keep anyway. Toss a coin.
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This article sums the situation up perfectly - as much as it grieves me.
The ashes was set, 1 team building itself under a new leader, the other struggling to accept that its place in the status quo is no londer a given. Both teams had a lot to prove.
Although we still have time to re group and prepare the early psychological advantage is with the Aussies.
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Why do so many have a problem with KP's ego? While he may not make a great friend or diplomat he is an intimidating captain, who LEADS from the front, can make good tactical decisions and who is genuinely up for the job. He has no more ego than Ponting or Waugh. He is a matchwinner, the only one in the English team at the moment and the only one who is likely to make the squad of the top 5 nations (except for India perhaps). Ranting about his ego is totally irrelevant! If it gets in the way of doing his job then fine, but that's not the case. He hasn't even been captain for 6 months.
Rather look at the coach's pathetic record and the way the performances of key players have gone down under his "guidance".
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"I wish to add that I have principles in my professional and personal life as
to how things are done and during my time as England captain I have always been
both helpful and direct in my communications with the ECB. At no time, contrary
to press speculation, have I released any unauthorised information to the media
regarding my relationships with the players, coaches and the ECB itself."
So who's the tell-tale?
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Maybe I'm the minority but I'll support the ECB on this one. Despite their reputation the ECB have sacked a coach who's record is mediocre at best and had good reason to worry about his future employment. Whether Pietersen was pushed or not no Sporting organisation can let one person push them around and hold them to an ultimatum. However hasty it maybe the ECB have the chance to find a harmonious partnership betwen a new Coach and Captain.
Appointing Strauss is a good move; even tempered and phelgmatic he will get on with most, pretty clever and tactically aware the ECB can now consider several options gto partner him. I hope this has the required effect on his batting which has been patchy over the last four years. But Pietersen is what he is and I for one hold no grudge because he won't change and he will play just as nothing has happened.
So the only disaster is that is has been so public, but KP was never going to go quietly was he?
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England captain Kevin Pietersen has quit in the wake of his rift with coach Peter Moores, who has been sacked.
Pietersen said he made the decision "in light of recent communications with the England and Wales Cricket Board and the media stories that followed".
"It would be extremely difficult for me to continue in my current position," added the 28-year-old's statement.
Andrew Strauss has been named interim captain for the tour of the West Indies, which begins on 21 January.
Hugh Morris, managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, said in a statement that the search for a new coach would begin "immediately".
"This has become an impossible situation given the irretrievable breakdown of the relationship between captain and coach," he added.
"Kevin recognised that in the present situation it was impossible to restore the dressing room unity, which is vital if England are to win the forthcoming tour to the Caribbean, the ICC global events or regain the Ashes in the npower Ashes Test series."
TOM FORDYCE BLOG
Just as the Australian team looks to be at its weakest in a quarter of a century, English cricket has taken careful aim and shot itself in both feet
Pietersen will, however, continue to play his part as a member of the team, with Morris adding: "I have an extremely high respect and regard for Kevin. He remains is a highly valued as a senior and experienced player."
News of Pietersen and Moores's departures ends a day of claim, counter-claim and confusion, which began with rumours that the pair had both tendered their resignations.
However, the batsman, who will return to England from South Africa on Thursday, continued in his statement: "Contrary to media speculation, I wish to make it very clear that I did not resign as captain of the England cricket team this morning.
"But in light of recent communications with the ECB, and the unfortunate media stories and speculation that have subsequently appeared, I now consider that it would be extremely difficult for me to continue in my current position.
"Accordingly, I have as of this afternoon decided to stand down with immediate effect. I still fully intend to be a part of both England's Test and One Day International squad to tour the West Indies next month and to do all I can to recapture the Ashes during the summer."
It has been reported that Pietersen and Moores disagreed over a range of issues, including team selection - most notably that of Michael Vaughan - training regimes and leadership style.
And Pietersen admitted last week his relationship with Moores was strained as they clashed on how to move England forward.
However, the South African-born batsman was at pains to assuage accusations that he was at fault for the fact that the pair's disagreements were fed to the media, saying: "I have principles in my professional and personal life as to how things are done.
News statement - ECB chief Hugh Morris
"During my time as England captain I have always been both helpful and direct in my communications with the ECB.
"At no time, contrary to press speculation, have I released any unauthorised information to the media regarding my relationships with the players, coaches and the ECB itself."
Pietersen departs with a record of one win, one draw and one defeat in his three Test matches in charge, while his one-day record as captain reads won four, lost five.
And BBC 5 Live's cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew says Pietersen's resignation marks "a turnaround" from his position last week when he "first announced he couldn't work with Moores anymore".
"It was a 'back me or sack me' situation he laid down," continued Agnew. "And effectively, the ECB sacked him last night. There was a late night teleconference between the members of the board and it was concluded that both Pietersen and Moores would be sacked.
"Today, clearly there has been a lot of negotiation. I understand Pietersen is not at all happy with the situation facing being sacked or resigning."
Pietersen succeeded Michael Vaughan as England captain on 4 August and led the side to victory in his first Test match in charge against South Africa and then followed that up with a 4-0 victory in the subsequent one-day international series against the tourists.
What really worries me is what's going on in the dressing room. It is an unholy mess at the moment
Graham Gooch
But Pietersen's England were crushed by 10 wickets in their Stanford Super Series Twenty20 showdown in Antigua at the start of November.
And later that month, England were humbled 5-0 by India in a one-day series that was cut short by the attacks in Mumbai.
England left the sub-continent in the wake of the attacks, but returned to India for the two-Test series in December, losing one and drawing one.
As for Moores, he has lost four out of seven Test series since succeeding Duncan Fletcher as England coach 18 months ago.
England travel to the Caribbean on 21 January for a Test and one-day series against the West Indies and former England captain Graham Gooch, for one, expressed his concern about the effect all this will have on the England team.
He told 5 Live: "What really worries me is what's going on in the dressing room.
"There are obviously some factions in the dressing room, some with Pietersen and some not, and that's not the sort of harmony you want before a big series in the West Indies and of course the Ashes.
"But it is an unholy mess at the moment."
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Strauss is a class act, only player on either side to score two hundreds in the last ashes on home soil, averages 55 as captain and a born leader. When captain of middlesex he spent all winter learning the strengths and weaknesses of every county player so that he could prepare his fields and bowlers. He is a clever, determined man who does not need a coach to tell him what to do like KP, he can work it out for himself and retain the information when required
It must be remembered that he has never been captain when flintoff has been fit, so his record is even more impressive.
Have faith - we've now got a real chance in 2009.
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I've just finished reading Fred Trueman's excellent autobiography.
It appears that the ECB circa 2009 is no more in touch than the MCC circa 1955.
Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose...
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In early August I wrote on a BBC blog
"Oh dear! Here we go again...panic among the selectors leads them to choose an allegedly unpopular player and untried captain, simply on the basis that he scores more runs than anyone else.
For how long has this been the most important requirement of the captain of any cricket team? "
I am not a cricket administrator and never was much of a player, even at the most basic level. But if I could see trouble ahead for this choice of England captain (KP) why oh why couldn't the England selectors?
It is the administration at the top of the game in England that needs looking at.
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What is a bloody South Afican doing leading the English team anyway, where's that old guy with the great beard and cap when you need him!
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'' Theres something terribly english about the whole sorry shamboodle''
A South African resigns as captain, replaced by another South African,what exactly is terribly english about this whole sorry shamboodle ?
Wansanshoo.
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Typical of England, just when the Aussies are starting to find life difficult for the first time in 20 years, turmoil brews in the camp and this is the net result. I'm gonna stick up for Pietersen here, imo there was nothing wrong with his reign as captain, i don't agree with his decision to bring MV back into the side instantly yet his positive approach as captain was a change from the last year of MV's reign which had got stale. Moores has been a poor coach for England, it may sound harsh but we hired the cheap, easy option after CWC2007, there were plenty of other coaches available after that WC, Tom Moody, John Buchanan are 2 that spring to mind. Especially Buchanan, one can argue that the loss of Warne and McGrath has coincided with the dip in form by the Aussies but JB was fundamental in the creation of the aura of invincibilty that the Aussies once possessed. Strauss is the sensible choice as captain now, and imo should stay that way until the Ashes at least, if MV can get out into county cricket and score the runs for Yorkshire then he could get a place back in the side for the Ashes, as for the tour to the Windies, i would give Shah a go for a match or 2 and give Bell a match or 2, find out which one is worth a go in the Ashes at Number 3, if both don't convince and MV is scoring the runs than bring him back, but ONLY on this condition.
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I remember after Vaughan quit all the BBC pundits and most of the ex players saying that KP wouldn't get the job because he doesn't get on with Moores. He got it, they didn't get on, no surprise!. The only real surpise is that Moores lasted so long (he is an average coach at best) and that KP got appointed in the first place.
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Cricket has become a celeb sport and now has the egos to go with it - unfortunately the management are still of the old school and are patently incapable of dealing with with a range of issues that players have from "touring badly" (missing families/pedalo abuse) to not knowing when to shut up when dealing with the media. Unless a better crop of man-managers can be found to replace the parlous specimens at the ECB, expect trouble in two weeks and much of the same behaviour that has characterised the last 48 hours.
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"What is a bloody South African doing leading the English team anyway, where's that old guy with the great beard and cap when you need him!"
Don't forget that the best cricketing friend of that old guy with the great beard and cap was an Indian who played for England...
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What a blessing from heaven!
Pietersen is a brilliant but unsound batsman who needs strong captaincy and is a quite lousy captain. Moores is a brilliant school coach but is not strong enough to manage star players at this level.
England need a captain to lead not manage and a manager to manage not coach.
Strauss has the makings of a great captain and knows form experience that he must keep his mind on playing cricket not his ego. We can now look overseas for a manager the team don't know and can't bully and who can manage them, not treat them like a bunch of chldren who must be pushed all the time to do their football practice.
This has all happened just in time to go as a team to the Windies and thrash their poor side and come back full of confidence to regain the Ashes.
Ponting must have a feeling that he can't win now. Wonderful news!
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Well - we've now got the captain we should have had all along - let's get a decent coach on board and we'll be ready for the Aussies (who aren't that good now by the way)
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So typically English. You finally get a captain (albeit a south african) who leads from the front and actually speaks his mind, and the ECB decides to slap him down and dismiss him from the post.
It seems like England prefers the good old boy, team player captain who agrees with everyone even if he is a massive failure. (e.g. Michael Vaughn)
Much as I dislike Ponting, I full recognize that as the Aussie captain for all these years, he has led from the front, spoken his mind and achieved great results. Obviously not something that England wants.
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we've just lost the greatest England player in the last 20 years - not to mention a great captain in the making. Why? because of some tin-pot coach. Let's be honest - who is Moores? We don't need him - but we did need to support KP properly - he represents the future, and the blazers have let him down big-time. Nice one!
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I am sorrry but Kevin Pieterson may be a brilliant batsman but he is now captian. He is one of the most self obsessed arrogant people to in sport today not capable of putting his own agenda aside and doing what is best for the team.
I thought his appointment was the wrong decision at the time and I have been proved right.
The australians must be laughing their socks off and the south africans congrautalting themselves on a lucky escape!
If you want to see a real example of a captain look at Graeme Smith - sore elbow and broken hand and still goes out to bat to lead it team from the front and do the best he can! Smith has always recognised that Pieterson was a spoilt brat who threw his toys out the pram when he didn't get his own way. To bad the ECB could not see the same!
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Hard questions need to be asked of the management of the ECB. They appointed KP and Moores in the first place after all. They are the ones who let speculation run wild for 8 hours after the first reports of KP quitting came out.
The ECB's statement tells us very little other than that they are not prepared to answer questions at the moment.
KP's detractors will always say that he's South African and not English. What they miss is that he is frighteningly driven. And I mean frighteningly. I've seen this up close in business. Driven people polarise opinion; those who believe in them perform better, those who don't are scared of them, they obstruct and block and are moved on or the driven person is moved on.
English cricket has never seen someone as driven as KP. The suits at the ECB certainly haven't and they are scared because KP sees things clearly. You either help win test matches or you don't. No middle ground.
Claims of naivety in captaincy are useless. KP admitted that he has lots to learn and the ECB knew that when they appointed him. Where was the support when he needed it? Moores simply doesn't have the international experience to support an international player. No slight on the guy, it's a statement of fact.
Mike Atherton talked today about "the cult of the coach" becoming more prevalent. Look at Australia since John Buchanan moved on. Tim Nielsen is another in his mould but Australia are fading now when they arguably should have started rebuilding earlier. Look at Bennett King and the West Indies. Failure. Look at Greg Chappell and India. Failure. Look at John Bracewell and New Zealand. Failure. Over reliance on stats, science and management speak over international experience won't always get you results.
Look at Gary Kirsten and India - success. Does Kirsten spout management speak? No. Look at Dav Whatmore and Sri Lanka - success. Does Whatmore spout management speak? No.
This is a mess of the ECB's causing. Where do we go from here? I doubt we will see any answers to hard, straight questions from the ECB. This must surely influence how people will vote in the upcoming ECB Chairman elections.
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I believe KP has more committment to England than some people give him credit for.
I think he wants to get better as a player, something which does not seem so obvious with all of the current England team.
He would dearly love to have an Australian crowd applaud him as they have just done for his good friend Graeme Smith.
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So now we find out that the ECB were aware of the press statements coming out about the fall out between KP and Moores.So the blame lies fairly and squarely on the doorstep of the ECB.Sack the lot of them.
What a bunch of cowards the ECB are-but I guess they are happy now they have the public school boy they always wanted before he lost form.Good old Strauss.He is a likeable chap-dont yer know- but he needs to step up a gear to beat tough opposition-he made one or two very good scores recently but needs to be consistant.How long will he last as captain if the next clown of a coach appointed by the ECB turns out to be another numbskull?
If I were KP it would have to be-go for the dosh on offer with IPL and sod the ECB,but unlike me he is a noble chap and obviously has principals whereas the ECB have none-but they like a drink or two I hear.
As for Moores-who will miss him?Thats right no-one!Im sure he has the Lancashire job sown up as I write.poor old Lancashire-they wont be winning anything this year then.
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Just a few observations to throw into the mix:
a) this mess is squarely at Geoff Miller's door, why doesn't HE resign? Remember his brainwave selection of Pattinson in the Headingley test last year and his opining that 'Darren remains in our minds and we'll be watching his progress closely' when he's been dropped as suddenly as he appeared.
b) Rob Key: decent enough player but as an international captain?? I sat open-mouthed in shock when he and R.Croft told Sky Sports viewers that Eng's bowling attack was better than Australia's - just before India knocked off 387 with ease to win the Test! Key didn't return to that theme in the post-match analysis...doesn't say much for the bloke's judgement.
c) the selectors and the team seem to believe they are a lot better than they actually are. Stanford was allowed to hijack the agenda with his cash, another move that has backfired and simply exposed again how ordinary England are as a cricketing unit.
d) those that have gone before underline all that's wrong with England's attitude. Nasser Hussain in particular talking about England shooting themselves in the foot "on the eve of an Ashes campaign". They are NOT on the eve of the Ashes - they have two series against W.Indies coming up and the focus on the Ashes strongly imples an assumption that we will sweep them aside before hammering the Aussies. West Indies will give England a stern challenge especially on their own pitches and Eng have got their work cut out to get anything from those games.
Will their ever be a return to realistic thinking and honest appraisals of the team's ability instead of all these soundbites and rubbish rhetoric about how great we were to beat the Aussies in 2005?
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Amazing how the wheel turns, and sometimes people get what they deserve.
KP turned his back on SA Cricket (checked the make up of the team that just beat the Aussies??) and headed for the 'greener' GBP infested pastures of the UK.
He has trouble with his first county and then swears allegiance to England (incredible how one can change your nationality these days..), he then performs with the bat and is made captain of his adopted country....
He then oversteps the mark with the coach and the ECB and is effectively dismissed...
The Pound lured him once before... IPL here KP comes? .... if he could turn his back on the land of his birth then dont be surprised if he turns his back on his adopted country.
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It's still a four year period for national qualification isn't it, so shall we see Pietersen back in SA colours come the tour to southern Africa in 2013.....
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ECB are taking a lot of stick - not all justified - KP has proven by the way he has handled his differences with Moores that he lacks the fundamental people skills required to be a successful captain - It's right they pushed him out but also right he's still in the team as our best batsman by a street. They also took a good opportunity to offload a coach who, although deserving of his original chance, turned out not to cut the mustard. The end result could be a good thing.
BTW No.169 a bit harsh on Vaughan, don't think you could put him in the failure category as far as England captains go - what money on Vaughan being back in charge by the time the Ashes come around?
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Well done ECB - I go to bed in Oz thinking the Aussie team is in tatters only to wake to find out that that bunch of old men have stuffed up again. Congrats - should we start wrapping the Ashes now to prepare for its flight to Australia - Disgrace.
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My comment is a copy of an email I sent to the ECB with copies to the BBC and Sky. I am ashamed as an Englishman that our cricketing "masters" are so spineless.
Your Excellencies,
I address you in this manner as it appears that "one" may only approach your glorious selves in the most humble of manners. I sincerely hope that the 7th of January 2009 goes down in history as the darkest day in English Cricket.
KP whom you heralded as the Captain that could perform in all forms of the game a scant 5 months ago has now been kicked out because he had the audacity to say "back me or sack me." You lamentably did not have the courage to back him. On your web site you state the following:-
ECB's strategic plan for cricket, Building Partnerships, is built on four key pillars:
Effective leadership and governance
Vibrant domestic game
Enthusing participation and following especially among young people
Successful England team
Sorry but you have failed on all points. It should not be Kevin that goes, but you collectively. Of course you have support from the likes of Nasser Hussein, who maybe one day wants to fill the shoes of one of you, but remember that without the support of the cricket fans who expect to see England once more climb to the top, you are nothing. The honourable thing would be for you "Gods of the Cricket World" to resign and be replaced by the likes of Sir Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott and others of similar ilk who understand that a spade IS a spade. I hope you are ASHAMED that you did not have the courage to back the man that you heralded as OUR Captain such a short time ago, but of course you won't be because it is so much more important that everybody in the English cricket world pay homage to the Gods who failed than that we the fans and supporters of English cricket should see our team led to success against the Aussies in the next Ashes series by a South African born ENGLISHMAN who has a pride and passion to perform for England. Something you seem to lack. Remember how KP was booed by the South Africans when he first represented England there in the one day series, I do because, I was in SA, with my daughter, another ardent English cricket fan, watching, ball by ball. When he scored his first century against the country of his birth he took off his helmet and kissed the English Emblem. That took a kind of courage which you obviously do not have. Please forget Knighthoods, Earldoms or whatever it is you are after and either live up to your own aims and the expectations of the English cricket fans, possibly, especially the Barmy Army who spend fortunes to follow ENGLAND around the world, or RESIGN.
A very dissatisfied English, English cricket fan
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You can see by some of the replies that KP isnt the favourite in our typically english tradition.If he is a bit over the top drag him down a peg or two.Its the english way-bad show and all that,cant have an ego yer know.
KP is a player who in the words of president elect Obama says "yes we can"-he believes in himself and all he wanted was a coach and players who also felt that way not a bunch of journeymen who play for a bit of dosh and an easy life in the counties.It doesnt matter who the hell is captain,thats just a side issue.If you had 11 players with the same attitude as KP then you would always be in the frame to compete.You may not win everything but you will make it hard for opposition.Apart from one or two in the current side who could claim to be in the same class as KP?The answer speaks for itself in the teams results. Give me 11 KP's anyday or who would die to win for England. Will Strauss do that or just shrug his shoulders when we lose the Ashes?
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Pietersen was appointed by the board and they should have backed him. Not uncritically. There was enough in his newspaper column to justify giving him the mother of all bollockings. But he should have been warned not sacked (or forced to resign). For all the reasons given by others above above - he was always going to be somewhat clumsy and liable to make errors. But the arrogance, impatience and drive are not news. They were the package that was chosen, and he should have been given proper support, not dumped at the first opportunity.
On a separate but unrelated note, I don't agree with the assumption that Vaughan's return was wanted because of his captaincy skills. Before he became captain he was one of the best test batsmen in the world. His performances at lower levels have never really matched up. So it made a lot of sense to stick him in straight away now and see whether he still has what it takes or not. If he did not come off in this series, there would still be one more series to put the next man in.
As for some other players not backing Pietersen - well maybe I am too authoritarian, but again, his job is not to be popular, it is to lead the team to success. The popularity can come when the success comes.
Pietersen would be right to be sitting at home kicking himself for his clumsy gunboat diplomacy. But he would be even more right to be feeling extremely let down by the people who appointed him.
I too would have chosen Key or Strauss rather than Pietersen last summer, but given that he was chosen I believe he should be given a proper chance. He deserves that and I therefore hope it comes for him again before too long.
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KP was not good enough for South Africa, and so I thought it was hilarious that he was deemed good enough for England, let alone the England captaincy. He migth be a fabulous batsman, but he couldn't catch a water melon tossed from 2 feet away, nor does he have the integrity or the leadership abilities to lead a team.
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Can't be bothered to read all the posts so I will add my four pennorth in ignorance of what has gone before.
Seems everyone thinks KP has an ego. Which member of the dressing room doesn't? It's what you do with it that matters.
Has anyone asked if Moores was up to the job? In my humble opinion, he wasn't. Success at Sussex is not the same as taking on India in India.
Apparently KP didn't get on with Harmy. Is this the same Harmy that KP was desperate to get back in the side in August?
Can we now stop having the conveyor belt of Sussex wicket keepers clogging up the side with their inability to stop a ball?
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Hopefully this marks the end of the captain as more than someone who is manages the team in games and leads on tour. This kind of excessive importance to captain and coach has led to the last 4 holders being dragged away tired or bitter or broken or humiliated (Vaughan, Flintoff, Fletcher, Hussain and now KP and Moores).
Listening to Vaughan suggest that the captain should select the team and suggesting he like Hussain had been worn down by being selector and leader. It was shocking that a relatively (to talent and expenditure) un-successful team like England who were uniformally terrible in ODI and briefly a long way 2nd in tests had ceded all power to within the team.
Captain reached its nadir when we had a captain a stand in captain and he further had a stand in for when his fitness effort fell short. There really only should be 1 captain and he appointed after the team is selected for a series at most at a time.
Indeed recently under almost the exclusive say and selection by capt and coach England have been whitewashed on tour by Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia - a 1-0 to India being not bad this winter.
For me the coach should have no power or say and it really should be the responsibility of the players and captain to get what they need from him and his team.
I think we need a new selection committee with little contact with the team. I blanche when selectors refer to a player by a nickname when he has a perfectly acceptable name like Andrew Flintoff - especially when he was such a divisive figure as captain.
Pick the team appoint the captain and ask for his feedback after each test. If he is unfit, losing or out of form thank him for his time and appoint someone else who is then THE captain. It really is that simple for every other nation.
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#9
"A media dominated by posh boys from grammar school who see cricket as the true epitome of englishness and therefore saturate press to exhaustion"
How sad you are that you think in such silly class terms.
Rob Slack (working class grammar school boy).
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Many people here have criticized KP for an outsize ego. Frankly an ego is an asset in a captain. How else do you convince yourself and your team that you're the best person to be captain and that you have a competitive team.
For the English readers, the purpose of sport (these days anyway) is to WIN, not just to do your best. KP has the attitude, ego and mentality of a WINNER, a very foreign concept to the English and one the ECB obviously could not deal with
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Why have we got duffers like Ashley Giles involved in the set up?what can he possibly bring to the party? no wonder Monty has gone downhill the last year.
Nows the time to be bold and appoint someone who wont bow to the egg and bacon tie old fogies,bring in Sir Geoffrey and Beefy!!
Strauss not convinced,another who is at best streaky in terms of form,so we could have both him Bell and Collingwood all scratching about tryig to find form
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Where does all this leave the ECB and Morris, in particular? They knew before they appointed Pietersen there were issues between him and Moores. Of course Pietersen wanted the job. It is all he has wanted, and they should have been much more wary of his ambitions than they were. Their gamble has failed spectacularly and perhaps it is they who should look at their positions,as well.
How a dressing room, which seems to have gone against Pietersen and is clearly divided, can function effectively is a critical issue.
Sadly Pietersen does seem to have thought himself bigger than the rest and, more crucially, bigger than England cricket.
I wonder what would have happened if Alex Ferguson had been in charge?
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Oh kidda!!! KP u stupid fool! tryin to be a big bad man in England team that always had doubts bout having him as Captain. A guy like KP who can get Punk'd by Yuvraj shouldnt b captain live dis 2 strauss a wise man & the ideal Yes man da ECB want. Peter Moores will b remember as the coach that didnt coach the England team to any successful victories.
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I can't believe how many people are quick to jump on the bandwagon and start slagging off KP. He is far and away our best batsmen, and took on the captaincy becasue there was no one else with any kind of credentials for the job. Most of the other players in the team aren't guranteed their place due to poor form, so who else should have been made captain?
Strauss? A man who went so badly out of form he was dropped and now plays basically only one shot for an entire innings? I've got nothing against Strauss but i don't see that he has the same drive that KP does.
On another note people are quick to jump on the fact that he is from South Africa.....as is Stauss, and i'm sure both have english mothers so in my eyes are English. Obviously this is not good enough for some people, and his personal drive to become the best batsman in the worlds is not good enough for most England fans who would rather put up with the mediocrity of the likes of Bell and Collingwood etc!
One last comment. How could Rob Key even be in the team, let alone be captain? So he does okay for Kent, and i stress ok, in what is a pretty mediocre county championship, how could he be England captain???? Not even good enough to get in the team in my eyes.
Anyway, good luck England, if KP now decides to leave and go to the IPL i won't blame him.
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You were going well with that Blog, Tom.....then right at the death, out trotted that inevitable comparison driven by an english-man's insecurities of country/people's/sport-stars status and place on the planet. Just as it did with the "Count the obscure holes I can pick in Australia's 2008 sporting performances" clever game, er........ wind-up.
Back on topic. KP plays a discraceful hand of poker. What a primadonna plonker. It didn't have to be this way as he has all the game a cricketer could want.
But so disrespectful to English cricket. Like a fractious 16 year old handing a little ransom note to their mother as a means to get their own way: "I'll pack my bags and go if you don't let me go to the party! I will!"
It's unfortunate he lost his temper and could see the big picture of many more tours to snuggle with his mates on, and weathering the storm of an average coach (which many great captains have had to tolerate) to become a true leader.
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I cannot believe the stupidity of the ECB.
Re Pietersen - To all those people who talk about egos, arrogance and who does he think he is.
What he thinks is that he is one of the best players in the world - as he is - what he also thinks is that he has the ability to become the best player in the world and one of the best players of all time.
As far as i am concerned, he can have as big an ego as he wants - if he delivers (and he always has for england whilst others have failed), then it can be the size of a skyscraper.
Ponting, Smith, McGrath, Warne, Viv Richards - what distinguishes them? Very simple - they are arrogant. It's their arrogance that makes them the success they are.
There are people in this country who don't seem to want success - we had a chance to transform English cricket and that has been lost for a generation.
Personally, I think those who suggest he will go to IPL show more about their ignorance of the game than anything else.
Pietersen wants to play Test Cricket and he can't do that in the IPL. Those who predict his demise/loss of form will be proved wrong again.
You underestimate him just like the ECB. He is the most driven cricketer I have ever seen and will certainly want to prove his ability in future matches.
As fo Strauss, people who think he will be good have very short memories. He couldn't buy a run 18 months ago and got dropped from the side. If this happens again, England will face the same problem they faced with Vaughan.
And he is an ass-kisser. He won't rock the boat which is just what the ECB want.
The key question for me is - what are we prepared to do to be successful? Pietersen showed he was willing to drive himself and the team as hard as needed. The ECB don't seem to care - they want a quiet life.
One final comment. There are some people who have suggested that Pietersen isn't that good and doesn't deserve to be so arrogant.
Again, you show your ignorance.
Check the facts.
(1) Second highest number of runs in 25 matches in Test Cricket history - behind Don Bradman
(2) Fourth player in Test history to score 1000 runs for three successive years - and he has only played Test cricket for 3 and a half years
(3) 15 Test Centuries (including one double century) in 3 and a half years . In his whole career ( spanning 18 years), Gooch scored just over 30
So don't give me any more of this rubbish that he is not that good.
He is the most phenomenal england batsman I have ever seen - that's nearly 40 years of watching cricket. better by a mile than Gooch, Boycott and all the others people might suggest.
As for his record as captain, we will never know. 3 Test matches - 1 won, 1 lost, 1 drawn - against the 2 best sides in the world is a decent start IMO.
And to answer one stupid comment on here, he has NOT lost form since he became captain. He scored 2 test centuries in 3 matches - as good as at any stage in his career - so that just won't wash.
Most countries would bust everything to keep a player like that on their side.
The ECB don't care enough about winning to be concerned.
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Can everyone just calm down a bit please, we've now got the captain we should have had when this whole saga began and the opportunity to employ a first rate coach/manager. We also have an outstanding spin coach coming in on a consultation basis and we all know that when that happens with the ECB it tends to end up as a permenant position, in Mushy, who will hopefully get some life out of Monty.
And for all those people saying we have just lost KP, he has committed himself to England this afternoon as well as the Strauss. And the captain in the making, if he is destined to be a great captain of England he still will be as for one his ego to be the worlds best TEST batsman will mean he will continue to play for England and it will also mean he will be out there to prove his critics wrong.
Enough Said
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Anyone with any basic knowledge of the ECB knew this was in the offing once Vaughan was removed. The best? cricketer does not always make the best captain. Look back to the Botham ego or should that be era. Brierly is possibly the best example. Problem lies with fronting up diplomacy with sporting success. Therefore let us consider making Andy Flower the coach and let him choose the Captain. At least he understands politics within and outside sport having had to put up with Magabe!
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You know what guys?
... reading between the lines and not having to shoulder the anxiety or the burden of having the England monkey on my back, I feel?
?..what I?m reading from the palpable anguish that?s emanating from the various posts on this site, about the future of the England team. Can be gleaned from a few well placed words such as ? despair, despondency, discomfort, gloom, grief, heartache, unhappiness all disguised as bravado, it?s actually called putting a brave face on it or even keeping a stiff upper lip, a very English condition in times of a real crisis?
The Crisis
There seems to be a consensus among the true fans that there is a quick fix to all this mayhem. WRONG!!
Face it, England cricket is a laughing stock at the moment??.all the shenanigans of the last few hours cannot be dismissed as just a changing of the guard? Can it? KP gone (sadly, so soon?), Moors dismissed (not soon enough), the hierarchy in a mood to dissimulate the true reasons?
Now, now guys do you honestly believe that this does not reverberate down through the entire system from the ball boys, to the player?s et al, even all the way up to and including the corridors of power. This resounding debacle can not be assuaged, not by merely changing the name of the captain and appointing a new coach. The real cause of why this has occurred and goes on happening in the English game like recurring bad dream, on a regular but unending cycle, this needs to be debunked and some light shed on the minutia, of every little corner, of this crisis?
In short, the entire load has been placed on the players and the captain again; this is a huge responsibility to burden the frontliners with, so soon after the dislodging of the two helmsmen, who have been asked to walk the plank, almost in disgrace and in such a public manner,? Ask yourselves does this auger well for the incumbent. If the first match is not a good result or in any way unsatisfactory, in the smallest way, it will impact on the entire tour of the WI and then the prospect of facing the wounded animal that Australia will be in-waiting, to dent your ardour once again. OOOOCH!!
Like the proverbial Lemmings, heading toward the precipice to the preordained and unnecessary slaughter as fated by nature.
Sitting ducks, once again? A truer recipe for disaster I cannot imagine?
This kneejerk reaction to the future of the game in this country, seems to me short-sighted, to say the least.
Who would be captain in such circumstances, KP was right to go, god bless his cotton socks.
I have nothing against the choice of the captain, it?s a good one! But the coach should also be from the English game someone who knows it well and is an insider, a pragmatist first an instructor next. A disciplinarian as has been mooted by some, the so called no-nonsense crowd, never succeeds, look at history? You need innovation a freethinker a lover of the pure game, someone with humility and a little humour, to me this is a prerquisit, to achieve success in ?Test Cricket?, which is the key?
I realise that it is harder and harder in the modern theatre to nurture ?Test Cricket?, when the real money and modern forms of the game are getting further away from it? Persistence and continuity are the bywords of real success, look at the teams on top of the game; they make changes begrudgingly and with a great deal of circumspection. Or have a stock, a retinue of players, to call on and make the right chnges to suit the opposition or the conditions.
One inculcates an idea or habit into people by persistent instruction; one indoctrinates people with certain values or beliefs through repeated instruction, these are the hallmarks of success.
Remember it?s entertainment after all, and it?s perversely entertaining watching England becoming the joker of the pack.
Good luck!
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With all their problems, the Aussies were talking about losing the Ashes. Not any more! Both Mooores and Pietersen were stupid and unprofessional to allow their petty squabble to go public. Because of them, England have no coach and a dud like Strauss as captain. The ECB are really to blame. They are the senior management, but never seem to get their hands dirty. I think I'll support the Aussies for the first time in 50 years, at least they want to win!
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A flawed mercenary whom the ECB made captain. If they could not see the problems his ego and desire for publicity would create then perhaps a few of the ECB should be falling on their swords. Great management guys.
Pietersen has split the team and the English chances of credibility apart. Go and earn your Rupees Kevin, its the least you can do, for our sakes.
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Why o why do we screw things up.
Goodbye Ashes as the Aussies are more of a team, they'll pull together when the going gets tough.
Will our guys? I doubt it if there are frictions in the dressing room.
As for the ECB, 'old farts' comes to mind. Clueless.
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Bring back Mark Ramprakash!!!!! Quality batsman if there ever was one. Why not make him captain at the same time.
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During his recent holiday in south africa, Pietersen reportedly told his close mates that he is never comfortable being english and dealing with thier cricket politics and press,but its a compulsion for him to save his career. He was also reportedly told his mates that if some thing goes wrong with his English cricket career, he has a great offer from IPL to depend on.
So it looks like he has a game plan.
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During his recent holiday in south africa, Pietersen reportedly told his close mates that he is never comfortable being english and dealing with thier cricket politics and press,but its a compulsion for him to save his career.
He was also reportedly told his mates that if some thing goes wrong with his English cricket career, he has a great offer from IPL to depend on
So he has a game plan.
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well KP may be the best batsman in england but i doubt his leadership abilities in the long run. Obviiously the IPL has had some bearing on his decision and his high bargaining power. I hope the ECB can keep hold of him and test cricket in general can keep a foothold in this world that has now turned to a 20-20 cricket format. I see this as something that will not market the game as a whole. If u did see the game between the aus and SA yesterday can u get that same intensity in a 20-20 game or even and EPL match, i doubt it.
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What is done is done and we can all comment on this untill we are blue in the face, but it will not change what has happened unfortunate and probably inevitable as it is. From reading all the comments above there does not seem to have been many contributions about who should be a succesor to Moores.....
Any suggestions gratefully accepted, by myself and the ECB-As they seem to have immense difficuties thinking for themselves
And there is also the other matter of the captaincy of the one day side
Also i have been trying to access the ECB website for the last four hours to see what they have to say about this debacle-but they seem to have a "stick your head in the sand and it might go away if we ignore it" progamme attaced to it.
As an expat working abroad i come into contact with a lot of Aussies. The more intelligent amongst them, when pushed, have recently started to grudgingly admit that maybe they may be on the decline, and voiced worries that they may loose the Ashes when they visit later this year. That was untill yesterday!!!!!. Make no mistake-show them the slightest chink in your armour and they will exploit it to the maximum.
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In my view KP should have been backed to the fullest. Everyone has differences with others and atleast he came out in the public with his feelings, he could have kept quiet and continued to play as if everything was well. But he did'nt and risked his position in the team for the betterment of English cricket. I come from a country where we have had numerous fall outs between coaches and captains, but great players come once a life time. KP brought with him change and more important of all aggression. ECB would be advised to refuse KP's resignation and re-appoint him Captain. A confident KP will be a nightmare for any other cricket playing nation.
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There is only the ECB to blame yet again.KP was the right man for the job and the fact that he would not tolerate the ongoing unproffessional attitude in and outside of the dressing room is his downfall.Yes he may have an ego,and guess what he may even not be English(like the new captain so I guess we will have to put up with the ongoing racist remarks on here from all the little englanders) but he was trying to remove the old arrogant we are better than anyone attitude ,even if we do down 50 pints a night, to a more professional approach. For the record the fraction in the dressing room who didn't like his ways are the same ones who have held back the England team since the last ashes win.
I can fully understand why he wanted Vaughan in the windies .He needed someone he could rely on off the pitch whilst he was on it and he obviously believed that Moores and his team were not contributing in any way in this respect.Personally rhe best thing the ECB could do now is ask Vaughan to tour as non playing coach.
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Flintoff, Strauss backstabbed Pietersen?
Morris hinted at divisions in the team when he said: ?Kevin recognised that, in the present situation, it was impossible to restore dressing-room unity.?
It is believed that Flintoff and Strauss ? named KP?s replacement ? are understood to have stuck the knife in.
KP is looking at IPL seriously now.
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ak47 if that is true then the old adage of "you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword" is appropriate. How in the world will Strauss be able to engender harmony in the dressing room with KP and Flintoff in the side and quite honestly Flintoff is not the one performing. If we look at the character displayed by English cricketers these last few years it is not KP who fell off the wagon or created controversy outside of the game with all sorts of antics. KP is single minded about becoming the worlds best test batsman if for no other reason than to show us South Africans that we missed out on not backing him and quite honestly we did.
I do not see England becoming a great test team without him now, not with the way India, SA and Australia are playing the game. Even the Black Caps would be difficult opposition for England.
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It seems that most serious observers of the game are agreed that the ECB took a chance on Pieterson and should therefore have seen it through.
This newish blog:
http://www.aplayandamiss.blogspot.com/
says it very well and with a Notts perspective shows that we all know what KP is like and how he interacts in the dressing room.
What we have to hope is that his enthusiasm for scoring runs is not diminished.
Before people despair let me remind them what happened the last time a cerebral, upper class Middlesex opener took over the captaincy from someone perceived as England's cricketing hero and saviour ......
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Wow! I just watched the video on the main BBC sports page. Kevin Pietersen is walking along and then he gets in a car. Some policemen walked near him - it was quite dark. Amazing. Gosh! Just imagine if the BBC hadn't put this video on the main sports page! I wouldn't have seen Kevin Pietersen walking and getting into a car. Thanks BBC and the unqiue way you are funded.
I mean he's actually walking along and then gets in a car! Go have a look.
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To be fair, as many have pointed out this should never have been discussed via BBC or Cricinfo or any other media source. That is the only reason why the ECB have taken this decision and in many respects it shows that they are the ones with the power and want English cricket to be respected, therefore i can see the logic in their decision.
However, coming out and saying the dressing room is split is just adding salt into the wounds! Certain people in the dressing room will feel under even more pressure and by saying that there is only going to be less harmony! England need to take a long hard look at themselves. Players like Harmison should not be picked unless he can prove he wont bowl short wide long hops!
As Phil Vickery the rugby captain said, "no one is bigger than the game!"
What England can hope is that this will hopefully spur Pietersen on to score many runs in the upcoming series and not let it affect his batting.
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IPL? The ECB would never let him go and play in that....so he has taken the desicion out of their hands.
He's a big headed mug, MPV would have done the hounourable thing and kept his feelings under the press radar, to avoid the massive rift that has occured in the squad.
Not suprised, was sureley a matter of time wasn't it?
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When you look at the situation it makes you want to weep.
We have 2 players who would have graced just about any generation, Freddy and KP.
Unfortunately they seem dead set against each other and this seems to have split the team in two.
The next skipper has only one job, they have to reunite the team. They have to get them turned outwards again to face the opposition rather than facing each other.
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personally i think the first comment made by a 6x2 plank is rubbish, dont forget he does have some English dna! kp could walk into any leading test side in the world, he pledged his future to england and the genuine england cricket fans want him with the old 3 lions on his chest, if he goes to iPL Then fair play to him, would serve us right for forcing his resignation. Regardless of his personality and ego he is our best batsmen, his self belief and arrogance is what makes him as good as he is, and he is there to do job not keep people happy. This is why the aussies are so good. The ECB do not like people who have strong opinions and beliefs until their narrowminded views are broadened this wont be the last time something of this nature will happen again.
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The Captains job is to run things on the pitch, the coaches off it. In Rugby, football etc the coach picks the team. I know there is a difference between cricket and other sports as the captain has more responsibility, but he should not have the power to pick the team. Differences of opinion between captain and coach can be healthy, the difference here is that one of the men had an ego that was unwilling to accept compromise. I suspect seeing the Australians current situation KP wanted total control so any ashes success was totally down to him - he wanted Botham 1981 style recognition.
At the end of the day Gerrard doesn't pick the Liverpool team, Johnny Wilkinson didn't lead a revolution in the twickenham dressing room. Talent alone does not make a great sportsman, professionalism, teamwork, character etc do.
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stimpo99 and therein lies the age old English problem. Keep a stiff upper lip, don't say anything and when the back is turned put the knife in. No wonder England cannot create World Class teams, they don't realise that teamwork begins with honesty, transparency and uprightness. You have to able to trust that what people say to your face is what they also intended. I see very little of that evident in the dressing room now and it is not KP's fault.
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At last decisions have been made KP resigned rightly so, Moores sacked why? no explanation from ECB. Now we have revelations that the dressing room was in turmoil. Here is my two pennyworth for what its worth, do not select KP for England then watch the smiles and the unity come back, see how Flintoff, Bell, Collingwood etc begin to perform well as we know they can without the arrogant KP in their presence and whilst they are performing well in the W I lets get started with selecting a new ECB Board with people that know and have played the game. Hugh Morris who is he? what is his cricket CV ?
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i agree he should have kept quiet and it all should have been delt with internally, and kp was wrong to go public, but to say he is the most hated man in cricket(the sun) is he really? i doubt that, he is too strong a character for the ecb thats the problem, i do however think he would be better of going out there rippin mowlers apart and not having to worry about captaincy that would be better for all concerned.
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superwireless....idiot, there are people who like cricket and people who dont, dont force a non supportive opinion on people who like the sport, also if it wasnt that important to u.....why did u log in and comment?!!
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217: If you don't know Hugh Morris' cricket CV then I might suggest you aren't much of a cricket fan. You sound like one of those people who only follow England.
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OK so if it's paramount that coach and skipper get on, why not have whoever is in charge (ECB or whatever) pick the coach and the coach picks the skipper, and the rest of the team respect that decision.
But I guess that's too simple for these modern times of "everyone's opinion counts and nobody's wrong".
People no longer know JFDI, so nothing of any worth gets done.
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MV was dropped from the side because of poor form. Logically he should not return until he clearly demonstrates that his form is better. The problem is psychological. English cricket fears Aussie cricket, so a player who isn't in enough form to play against India could get back in the side because we want class i.e. better players against the Aussies. If he wasn't good enough to play against India how come he's good enough to play against Australia.
We could argue that he should never have been dropped but he wasn't making any runs! I'd rather have a good player make 35 against any team that a real class player who is out of form make 6.
This is a historical problem. Many times in the past the average age of the England team goes up suddenly when we play against the Aussies. Why? Because we bring back old players because they are class. Then we loose.
Moores was right and KP was wrong it's as simple as that. Moores wanted runs and discipline and KP wanted his old mate back in the side. No more old crocks thank you.
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So we have the ECB asking 2 of our most recent high profile failures if there is a problem in the dressing room.Well of course there is its full of people who don't deserve to be there.Perhaps KP was a little forthright in telling some of the so called stars living on there past glories that they had entered the last chance saloon and unless they started to perform , remain fit and start to act like the so called professionals they were supposed to be they might be looking for alternative winter employment.In my opinion Strauss has KP to thank for his second chance and yes well done to saffa strauss because he took it .On the other hand Harmison and his big buddy Flintoff blew theres big time and personally I believe this a bigger problem than the non inclusion of Vaughan.The fact that KP had to drag around and try and motivate Harmison,Flinfoff and a few others who shouldn't be there for 2 months in the windies.Its all going to end in bigger tears as the youngsters who want a change get overlooked yet again for the old tired guard to continue.
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tbh - in a roundabout way, this improves the side. Strauss is a better captain than KP, and this move will def take some pressure off both players in terms of scoring runs.
Strauss can relax and not worry that he is a couple of bad scores away from being dropped.
KP can do what he does best, bat, without bothering with all the other rigmarole associated with captain, both on and off the field.
Certainly if it was any other player there would be a lot of pressure on KP to get runs, and get them soon, but it would be a fool to suggest England could afford to drop him at any cost.
Of course he may still have a change of heart - certainly the media will have done nothing to endear the emotions of KP towards giving his all for England - and it may be that he yet decides to sit out the Windies tour when he see's the level of hostility.
Especially with IPL performances still not being sanctioned by the ECB.
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222 Moores does not want discipline!! The problem is more fundamental.KP nievely believes that as pros these players would turn up fit and ready.Moores believes they are primarily young children and need to be turned into fit pros whilst on tour.Both have failed to grasp that the basic requirement is like pro footballers they need to be fit to play not play to get fit.For example why are the windies touring team not training together now to get fit for the tour.They are centrally contracted thus we pay them a yearly salary to play thus they should all be training together.
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How come all those coppers at the airport with guns and not one of them managed to enforce the seat belt in car law.
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The trouble with fitness training regimes for cricket teams is that they do not seem to make the bowlers less injury-prone. Over the last few years on tour England always seem to have at least two bowlers unavailable because of injury. Brearley, Gatting and Gower seemed to have more relaxed regimes to fitness and diet and achieved more success with fewer injuries. Perhaps if our players spent more time in the nets and less time in the Gym they might improve as cricketers.
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I assume that the members of the ECB have access to this blog and whilst not necessarily hanging on to every word of our collective comments they should have the intelligence to realise that they have upset a great many of the English cricket fraternity. Since KP has been forced out by them because he went public, let them now see that The Public would dearly love to see them make just one honourable decision and RESIGN.
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The fact that KP claims to have left SA because of quota selections is false. This and the fact that he so quickly picked up an English accent have not managed to hide the fact that this man is so clearly looking out for no-body but himself.
When the ECB appointed someone whose nickname is FIGJAM, (flip I'm good, just ask me) they must have realised that it's only a matter of time before he self-destructs. I predicted this to happen to my English colleagues when he was appointed, it didn't take quite as longs as I thought it would.
On another note, England, still rates itself quite highly if they think that Ricky Pointing was losing sleep over the ashes series. Even with KP at the helm it would have been a hell of a ask for this English team to beat Auz.
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So, just before the all important ashes, just when people were talking up england's chances and about ponting's worries, comes a scenario which, I must say, couldn't have been better scripted for the aussies. England have lost both their coach and captain on the same day, and I have never seen anything like it before. They might have just lost the ashes.
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Whole thing disgusts me!
Down with ECB, and its politics.
Cricket should remain domain of its fans and lover, and not the playground of these stupid big fat as**.
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Just saw the "front page news" video of KP walking and actually getting into a car!
Wow! Thats news!!!
P.S:
BBC... please don't waste our money!! Please!! ... especially in the downturn.
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thank goodness for the armed police escort when he arrived home. Glad to see it's not just the BBC overreacting.
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I think the 'mess' may prove to be a huge blessing - it gave England the opportunity to get rid of two wholly unsuitable post holders in one fell swoop. It may be more by accident than design but at least it gives England the chance to rebuild.
I really think that England should just say they were both sacked rather than the idea that KP changed his position within a few hours - No, I haven't resigned, Oh sorry I just have nonsense.
England has a poor team - hence the exaggerated claims re KP's worth. I would not pick KP in a World XI - you could name 10 batsmen from Australia, India, Pakistan and West Indies for starters with a superior claim. And the Test scene looks more open than for the last 30 years with no unbeatable team. Admittedly India may have developed but virtually every other Test team has gone backwards over the last 10 years.
England might still get thrashed in the next 2 series but none of this changes the vulnerability of Australia and the West Indies at the moment.
Need to get back to playing more Tests or rather longer Test series - with a minimum of 4 Tests.
The idea of KP as England captain is ridiculous. To insist that Michael Vaughan should make the West Indies tour just shows how insecure KP's captaincy is - in better set-ups the aspirant skipper would serve an apprenticeship under another experienced captain rather than try to bodge it in this way.
The stuff about KP being captain because he is "a winner" is also laughable - imagine Australia justifying their choice of skipper on these grounds. Unless a player has this mentality he should not even be playing professional cricket in the first place.
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The basic point if a person so impatient and can leave his own country and hurt its people for his petty selfish benefits once....he can do it twice for IPL !!..and UK is not his country.
Possibility is there! What do you say folks?
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ak47 wrote:
The basic point if a person so impatient and can leave his own country and hurt its people for his petty selfish benefits once....he can do it twice for IPL !!..and UK is not his country.
Possibility is there! What do you say folks?
--------------------------------------
Won't be surprised if that happens. Pieterson needs something to satisfy his bruised ego, and the IPL might be it.
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We will see KP's true allegiance now. Will it be the 3 Lions (tattoed), the best batsmen in the world or The money and the IPL?
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Fredericksdmystumps wrote
England has a poor team - hence the exaggerated claims re KP's worth. I would not pick KP in a World XI - you could name 10 batsmen from Australia, India, Pakistan and West Indies for starters with a superior claim
I'll give you Australia and India, but i'm not sure about the West Indies! Other than Chanderpaul i can't see many of the current West Indian team making a world XI over KP!
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This is something that sports commentators get wrong all the time, although it's more usual with football commentators. It should be 'his star is in the ascendant', and NOT 'in the ascendancy''.
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because of this disaster we could just have lost our best player for the ashes series. england with kp had a chance, if kp doesnt play but that little urn will be staying down under.
plus why the hell is paul collingwood still in the team? replace with shah/vaughan/key.
strauss (c), cook, vaughan, pietersen, bell, flintoff, foster, broad, sidebottom, anderson, swan
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It seems obvious (with hindsight, admittedly) that Pietersen's credentials as an England captain were questionable from the outset.
The unpalatable truth is that the ECB wanted a cricketing, David Beckham style poster boy and KP fitted the bill.
Making your star player the captain of the team has rarely worked in the past, and in future the ECB would do better to consider what's best for the cricket team rather than pursuing its PR and commercial interests to the detriment of everything else.
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The captain should get who he wants on the park, and the coach should organise training. If Pietersen wanted Vaughan he should have got him. Personally, I think MV is a far better test player than Bell/Colly/Strauss and would be an asset against the Aussies if in form. And what better way to get into some test form than with a few easy games in the West Indies? I think Pietersen was spot on with this, but regardless of the issues, he should have raised them in PRIVATE. Opening his big mouth to the tabloids or however it all got out is the problem at the end of the day, not the actual problem itself.
Regarding his record, how quickly people forget it was a little bit of genius by Sewag and Tendulkar that caused England to lose the series in India, on the back of NO warm up games. 9 times out of 10 a team would win defending 380 in the fourth innings, even England. Were his record 2W 1D 0L people would give him a lot more credit. Personally I think they should send him back to the ranks for a couple of years to learn when its best to keep his mouth shut and then pick him again.
And Graham Thorpe should shut the hell up. Quite obvious he's still bitter it was Pietersen who ended his test career, great player though he admittedly was.
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M S Panesar for cpt.
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I didnt think i would be commenting on this, but i felt inclined to with so many anti KP comments.
With all due respect to the ECB and Peter Moores.. the captain is the one guy who has to make all the decisions on the field.
How can he carry out his job if the board don't select the players that he wants to take? Now fair enough, Vaughan isn't exactly in the form of his life.. but if your board don't back you with players you want to take on a tour.. then why should you be captain?
Its the same as if the yanks picked the mancs team.. what would be the need for Ferguson?
I agree with KP.. although he could have handled it better.. end of!
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to be honest im quited surprisd and upset that KP didn't have the backing of the players... iv'e lost alot of respect for freddie and strauss, maybe due to the fact they were jealous of pietersens lifestyle as it was looking like he was going to be offered a role in the IPL, i believe we've lost a captain who had the potential to become the greatest England skipper in history, he was a great leader, he could instill in the players the right attitude to win and spoke to the media with emotion on occasion which none of his predessecors did (except vaughan when he resigned)... a massive loss to english cricket as a leader.
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Gilson....if he was a great leader how come he didn't have the backing of the other players.
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Ok, so i haven't read all the comments but one thing i've never heard mentioned is this:
Under KP and Moores a group men missed out on the chance of somewhere near £1million each. Even for rich sportsmen this is a big deal.
This has to have an effect on the team, if you'd missed out on that kind of money, with such an abject performance, you'd be "annoyed". The fall out form that defeat is what we are now seeing.
A split dressing room, a coach and captain at each others throats.
The ECB are the people who agreed to Stanford and who can't cope with the fallout.
KP has potential as a captain, Moores as a coach. but they're gone.
I only hope Strauss and the new coach (i like Moody) have the time, skills and wherewithall to put the team back together.
This is either a time where England galvanise and become great or fall apart, if KP goes IPL then the job becomes twice as hard.
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Time for some major changes, not with the cricket but with the old f.....uddyduddies at the ECB. We have been reduced to the being the laughing stock of the cricketing world. If this carries on we won't only lose the ashes we'll be greatful of a game against Kenya.
This was only to be expected we build someone up only to then enjoy knocking them down, we'll only be sorry when LP is scoring centuries for South Africa against England.
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Bourne-mouthy, the fact that he didn't have the dressing room on his side doesn't necessarily reflect on his leadership abilities if he hasn't chosen those people to be there. Countless great leaders have had their mini-failures before they became great simply because they initially had the wrong players in their team. In the case of South Africa the same thing happened when Graham Smith influenced the sacking of Ray Jennings as coach and got the present coach Micky Arthur elected. We all know where that has led them.
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He was appointed to Captain a side, that under the present system, is picked for him. Therefore the leadership qualities required was to take that team forward.
KP would have been a good leader of the people if he could have picked them as they would have the same mindset.
In the SA team you used the word influenced, I think KP demanded.
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He obviously had the makings of a good captain when they selected him as such. If they made a mistake in doing soi who's to say they are not making a mistake now. How in heavens name can you trust them. It doesn't seem to me that the English side has been setting the world of cricket alight with their perfomances up until KP's appointment.
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KP is using English Cricket to promote his own grand plan for cricketing greatness. English Cricket is now suffering because he is putting his personal goals ahead of loyalty to team and country. Off to the IPL you go.
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kevjay it is like a marriage. Just because you become a pair doesn't mean to say you lose your individuality. In cricketing terms there are team goals and individual goals and as a player you should have both. The captain and coach are there to determine and remind players of the team goals but there is no harm in pursuing your own personal goals as part of the team goals.
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Bourne-mouthy, this is for you from BBC
Andy Flower is likely to be England's interim coach, and Udal said Strauss's success or failure in the job could affect Flower's future too. He has a huge amount of self belief, he'll be able to get his mind around what's required of him to get England back on track
"Obviously it's important that the captain and coach have a good relationship," he said.
"I think the right thing to do would be have a good look around while the boys are in the West Indies, but Andrew has to have an input on that.
"If he's going to be in charge for foreseeable future it's important that the captain has a say who he'll be working very closely with, hopefully he'll have a say on that very pivotal position.
Pity that the same situation wasn't afforded KP
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It may not be such a bad thing to have happened. KP is a total professional and is bound to give of his best as a player, now that his mind is not cluttered with pressures concomitant with captaincy.
And Strauss has already shown himself to be a cosummate leader. How the two- phase series with West Indies pans out will make or mar England preparations for the Ashes. But Strauss, nay the whole English team will do well to focus for the present only on how to go about the upcoming tours and not make the mistake of taking the Windies as light weights, as is being suggested by many an 'assessor' of team ratings. They are also a team in a flux, with some very talented cricketers who enjoy playing the game for its sheer joy. They too could come good any time.
Strauss' form at the helm could equip him with enough nous to be selectable for all three forms of the game. Its a gamble.
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The Aussies would do well to remember when Ian Botham gave up the captaincy. We were losing the Ashes.
But Botham and England came back to win - Beefy free from captaincy slaughtered them.
KP might just do the same! Aussies do not crow to early - you may be in for a shock.
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I can't / won't blame KP for this and I think those that are blaming him need to think more deeply.
I'm not going to put forward the case that KP's a saint or anything - far from it - but to me this whole sorry mess should have been handled by the ECB - that's where the fault lies.
Say what you like about KP, but stupid he is not. He's a fanatical worker at his game and an astute thinker - maybe not in Vaughan's class tactically but KP is no fool. He went to the media and aired the dirty linen knowing full well what would happen. He probably is angry that he's lost his job but money's no object to him - if he wanted to he could rake in a fortune from T20 tournaments the world over - KP does not need England. He wants England because I believe his drive is to show everyone he's the best batsman around.
However - what made KP go to the papers knowing something like this might happen? I'll tell you what - the ECB made him do so. I suspect he tried to resolve differences with Moores and probably privately told Morris that it was Moores or him. Morris, one of several incompetent administrators in the ECB refused to sack Moores so KP went to the press as a last resort. It may well be that it was worth the loss of captaincy because KP has at least got his way - Moores has gone and quite rightly too - he has done NOTHING for England since taking over from Fletcher. At best we've stayed still and several players (Bell and Panesar to name two) have gone backwards.
In sport, you do get genius players - egotistical players that want to do things their way. The good administrators and captains can handle them. Brearley had Boycott to deal with but that's the point - he dealt with him. The ECB could no sooner handle KP than they could handle Allan Stanford.
The ECB are incompetent businessmen who have no more idea how to run a cricket team than I have how to be a rocket scientist.
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KP was never the right choice in the first place - he's a wonderful player and clearly our most talent batsmen but too much ego and not enough experience in diplomacy and man management I'm afraid - I was shocked when he was picked, I'm not exactly shocked now. Strauss is a wise choice, yes his batting has struggled a little but he's a quality player with a test average of 42, has a mature head on his sholders and seems the sort of guy that is very well thought of (could be wrong but that's my impression). Might be a bit of a yes man to the powers that be but I guess we'll see
Key would be a ridiculous choice - you can't pick players who aren't up the grade just because they are good enough captians (ok Mike Brearly but he had Botham and Willis - we have Anderson and Broad)
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What is it about the English that the thing they relish most is kicking a man when he is down. I do appreciate that it was an American who said "Each time one of my friends succeeds, part of me dies". More than admiring a mans achievements, nothing gives the English great pleasure that crowing when a great man fails. And make no mistake about it, KP is a great man. He is the only world class player that we have in our team (Flintoff is not the force he once was, importamt as he still is, and Harmison has lost the killer edge he once was.) And what's with this "saffa" business? We should be grateful that he wanted to play for England and for the excitement that he created. Blame, if any, should be the ECB's. They should have made sure there was a working relationship between KP and Moores. Surely it is significant that Moores didn't get on with MV either. Brilliant he might have been with Sussex, the England job was not for him, in the same way that Brian Clough failed with Leeds, after Don Revie.
How lucky we are to have Andrew Strauss to take over with calm and measured authority, considering the way he was treated in the past by the ECB over the captaincy role.
So, may we consider ourselves lucky that KP still wants to play for us, despite the vicious (and it has been vicious) sniping from the press and people writing to this blog. And can we pray for a coach that can encourage more out of Cook, Bell and Panesar? We have to show the Aussies that we can get the Ashes back. And can we pray also for a change in the current selectors who are rather like hedgehogs; just one idea on team selection (the same 6 players forever when we aven't achieved anythingof note since 2005?) despite the fact that a large lorry, in the form of a wonded Aussie team (still dangerous) could be about to squash them flat.
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Kevin Pietersen took the easy way into international cricket by choosing an average team to represent. Chances are that he may never have got a chance of doing so with South Africa!
Easily the most disastrous decision English Cricket would have ever taken when they made him captain. Thankfully he gave them an easy reason to reverse it by the public showdown over the coach issue!
Its been said often in the past that he always puts self above all else. This episode clearly proves that. Anyone else in his place would have quit not just the captaincy but England Cricket as well.
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