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Pietersen admits mistakes

Roar Guru
22nd June, 2013
1

Kevin Pietersen admitted on Friday he’d made mistakes over the incident that led to his being dropped by England cricket authorities on disciplinary grounds last season.

Former England captain Pietersen returned to competitive cricket after three months out with a right knee problem by playing for Surrey in a four-day match away to Yorkshire.

He marked the occasion by giving a radio interview to former England team-mate Darren Gough broadcast while he fielded at Headingley.

It was at the Leeds ground, where having made a superb Test hundred against his native South Africa, Pietersen gave a press conference where he said “it’s tough being me in this dressing room”.

He was then dropped from the Test side amid reports he’d sent provocative messages to South Africa players, some reportedly critical of then England captain Andrew Strauss, and omitted from the World Twenty20 squad before being accepted back into the side across all formats.

“I probably didn’t go about it in the best fashion,” Pietersen told Gough on Talksport Radio.

“You make mistakes and you get over them and that’s the way you grow as a human being, by learning from things that you don’t do well.

“So I take it on the chin, no dramas, it’s just a case of looking forward and making sure that you do the right things now.”

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Pietersen is now in line to play in the second Twenty20 against New Zealand at The Oval on Thursday.

He is set to play for England in the Ashes warm-up against Essex before the first Test against Australia on July 10.

The 32-year-old is keen to become fully involved with England again, saying he felt awkward visiting the dressing room as an injured player.

“Injuries are a sportsmen’s worst nightmare,” said Pietersen.

“You feel totally out of the system. It’s just the feeling you get.

“I’ve played 94 Test matches and 100-and-however-many international one-dayers, Twenty-20s..I’ve been around since 2004 and you still get that ‘Right, I’m an injured player’ feeling.”

Pietersen insisted his latest injury had been one of the worst of his career.

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“(It was an) extremely badly bruised bottom of the femur, the bone in the knee,” he said.

“In New Zealand I couldn’t duck a bouncer, I couldn’t sweep, I was in all sorts of trouble. I was on the strongest painkillers and eventually my stomach just gave up with me in the second Test match.

“I probably did it a lot of damage by playing, but I just tried to get through and played for as long as I could because I hate missing Test matches.

“A bruising on your bone is a lot worse than breaking it. (With a break) you know that within six, seven, eight weeks you’re firing again.”

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