posted Jan 13, 2009

Hero.

The ECB should have never appointed him if they thought he would be a 'yes man'. He was always going to rattle cages. Moores was an average England Coach and under him the team was not moving forward. I do not think KP is the be all and end all of the England Cricket team but his winning attitude should be applauded not brushed aside and a team built around him as the best player. Although in truth, I feels he's been typically South African in his approach, cocksure and confident!?

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posted Jan 13, 2009

KP is a villain, end of story. He thinks he's bigger than the game and everyone else, i have no respect for him..... and neither do any of his former saffa countrymen. He has always been labelled egotistical so it's not a sudden attack on his character as he says ! People have always disliked him and the ECB should have seen this coming.

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posted Jan 13, 2009

I'm only 20years old, but I do look back and think 'Where did it all go wrong for England?' 4 years ago, we had a great captain (Vaughan), a great coach (Fletcher) and a great team, not to mention a four person bowling attack that the West-Indies would have been proud of.

Admittedly, 4 years is a hell of a long time for things to take a sharp 'U-Turn' (Just look at Blaire's third term in office). But the players all still say they have the heart and the fight to take England to the highest levels of cricket. Where is the proof of this statement? Sure, we've beaten mediocre teams since then, but struggled against the big boys.

4 years ago, we saw a young South African man grab England by the proverbial testes and add a dimension of cricket to the team that (if my history is right) England hadn't seen since Ian Bothom showed the Australians how some of us 'poms' have got grit, and have got determination. But, unlike darts, cricket is a team effort, and you need 11 players on the pitch to do well. It's all so horribly British for disasters like the Moores/Pietersen incident to occur the way it did, and who's to blame? Well, you could point fingers in all directions, but unfortunately, we've only been bless with 2 hands.

Personally, I think that this was caused by a system that doesn't believe in compromise. To be a highly successful cricket team, you need every member of the job (Staff, players, coaches) to work completely unanimously with eachother. This maybe one of the downfalls of Kevin Pietersen, as his aspirations maybe too high for English Cricket to comprehend.

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posted Jan 13, 2009

Old Glory has explained it perfectly, In Australia and South Africa (even KP said this in his sky interview) they are taught to have this 'take the bull by the horns' attitude, and its a much valued attitude there (look at Ponting and Smith)KP did not know any better, he was going with his acceptable strengths, but I suppose we cannot blame the English for not understanding him, and visa versa, I think that this is the whole problem.KP meant good, and is 100% committed, he is just misunderstood for growing up in another 'forward thinking/winning' culture . No offence meant to the English, but the Aussies and South Africans are very similar in attitude , and their sport speaks for its self

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posted Jan 13, 2009

KP definately Hero
ECB definately Villains

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posted Jan 13, 2009

Pietersen is a strange character. In some ways he epitomises the swashbuckling individualist such as Jessop, Dexter, Botham) but at the same time he has the win-at-all-costs by any means necessary attitude of Jardine, Close, Boycott etc. His mistake was in thinking that in order to get England to win, all he needed to do was become captain & then everyone else would have to think like him. In other words, he's never twigged that being captain involves more than telling everyone else what to do. (While we're on it, this idea that Australia & South Africa have got a "winning" culture & no-one else has is 100000% cr@p. No team has ever wanted to win more than Clive Lloyd's great West Indies; just look at how mercilessly they enforced the 'blackwash'.)

The real problem with Pietersen is not that he's a bighead or arrogant (he is); it's that in terms of captaincy he just doesn't have the brains & skill to back his attitude up & when he tries to enforce his will on the rest of the England team/set-up, he meets with resistance, because they can see that, although as a player he's outstanding, as a captain & tactician he's a buffoon, just like Botham was. His attitude to the current situation reminds me of Homer Simpson: "This is everyone's fault but mine!"

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posted Jan 13, 2009

I believe that the problem with KP is simply a lack of Managerial Skill that the ECB should have been more than aware of. They had more than enough time to consider this.

To my mind we do need a captain with all the focus, agression and single mindedness that KP possesses, but complemented with some one working alongside him to help deliver those attributes.

The ECB perhaps thought that Peter Moores was the very man to do that, but showing up his clear failings in this area which he should have been strong in, he failed to work with KP. That amongst other reasons of selection, was why Peter Moores had to go.
Lets face it, Collingwood has had his day, so has Harmison, and for the moment so has Panesar and Bell. None of these players would have survived in India, Australia, or South African teams, so why ours?

If you look at any sucessful Manager, whether it be Sport or Industry, or even in some strong Families, you will identify two people who acting constantly together, run the show. It is never just one person alone, it is simply too much. You may only see one person, but believe me, there is another in the background.

The next England Coach has to be an excellent Man Manager to be able to give direction to a variety of egotistical cricketers who's reputations are often better than their performances. The Coach has be on precisely the same wavelength as KP and they must work together like twins. The similarity stops between them as the Coach must also be able to apply that direction in perhaps a more English way than always being full on and in your face but there are times when that method is needed.
Its almost like the "Good Cop" "Bad Cop" duo's that we can all remmber and a good exapmle is when Peter Taylor and Brian Clough were together.

It is unreasonable to expect one person to be both brilliant as a player, and KP certainly is, but to then also expect him to suddenly become the most brilliant. the most tactful, the most tactically aware etc etc, Captain is far too much.

If cricketers selected for England are in need of coaching they should not be selected in the first place. Assuming that they are selected on their ability and merit, then it is just tactics, team spirit, application of their own skills to suit the plan at the time and so on.

It is for these reasons that we need to be lucky with the next Coach appointment. I say lucky because I am not convinced that the ECB can correctly identify what type of skilled person they need to appoint. Hugh Morris and Peter Moores are classical examples of right job, wrong person.
I really hope that the new Coach will have all the skills in abundance that we need to move the team to new heights together with KP in the longer term. A big part of that long term tactic is to initially use Stauss as an interim captain, perhaps even for the ashes games, but then reinstall KP and lets get the show on the road and compete with India, South Africa and show them how we can perform at the highest level by beating them. I will take winning the ashes as a given in the meantime.

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posted Jan 15, 2009

I have only just listened to Rod Bromsgrove`s interview regarding the recent debacle involving so many people in E&W cricket.
He is quite right in all his opinions, surely the ECB would have realized KP would be headstrong and also although Peter Moores had been successful domestically his knowledge of the hard nose requirements of International sport was sadly lacking.
Although he quite rightly refused to get involved in the politics of Chairmanship one could read between the lines that the buck drops squarely on Mr Clarkes desk and he is found wanting.
It seems the view of the ECB emulates politicians, always somebody elses fault even if you chose the people involved in the first place!!

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posted Jan 15, 2009

kp is the only man can take england cricket forward. look at the odi record. do they ever win the world cup? even srilanka did. kp want to take the team forward with a good coach. moores not a good coach he got some pets players in england like prior who else can take prior to international? kp is aggressive batsmen so he little aggresive in the captaincy so what? it is good for england cricket some one really caring about the team. some old selfish players are worrying because kp will take all the headlines in cricket. that is pure jelous. kp i feel sorry for you. you not desreve this treatment. all you tried to do is what is better for englad cricket . some ppl worrying for their jobs and easy money so they want you to be out of it.

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posted Jan 16, 2009

Very good, mature article gaspoolgary, for a 20 year old. you have my vote!

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