When I read colleague Alec Swann’s assessment that Andrew Strauss’ appointment as director of cricket was a major plus for English, I wholeheartedly agreed.
Until last night.
Having sacked Peter Moores as England’s cricket coach on his first day in office, Strauss used day two to drop a huge bucket on England’s Ashes campaign by telling Kevin Pietersen there was no chance of him being selected this summer.
“It’s a matter of trust,” was Strauss’ bigoted, petty, and way out of court explanation to the 34-year-old.
If trust is the key word, how about the incoming chairman of the ECB Colin Graves publicly saying last month if Petersen was scoring runs in county cricket, the Test selectors can’t ignore him, opening the recall door to end Pietersen’s banishment from the England side that lost the last Ashes series 5-0 in Australia.
Pietersen took Graves word as law, pulled out of his lucrative IPL contract to settle down with Surrey and get back among the first class runs.
Among the runs?
Last night Pietrsen cracked a career-best 355 not out for Surrey against Leicestershire at The Oval, the sixth highest individual score in county cricket history.
So Pietersen has done evrything asked of him by his chairman, who is Strauss’ boss, only to have Strauss tell him his services will not be required for the Ashes series for reasons other than cricket.
Having said that, Strauss then offered Pietersen an advisory job on England’s ODI committee, to which Pietersen understandably told Strauss to stick it.
Have the inmates taken over the asylum?
Strauss will never recover from his stupid decision for English cricket, nor airing his personal vendetta against Pietersen who now more than likely will retrieve his IPL contract and not play another first class dig in England.
Serves Strauss right, he has committed cricket suicide.
Strauss’ next major decision will be to anoint Moores’ successor as England coach.
Australians Jason Gillepie and Justin Langer are on the short list, and you can bet your last dollar both would welcome Pietersen’s return with open arms.
For the record, the five higher county cricket scores than Kevin Pietersen’s 355*:
Brian Lara’s 501* for Warwicxkshire against Durham at Birmingham in 1994.
Archie McLaren’s 424 for Leicestershire against Somerset at Taunton in 1895.
Graeme Hick’s 405* for Worcestershire against Somerset at Taunton in 1988.
Neil Fairbrother’s 366 for Lancashire against Surrey at The Oval in 1990.
And Robert Abel’s 357* for Surrey against Somerset at The val in 1899.
John
Guest
Re Pietersen's 355 - Against Second Division bowlers CJ McKay av. 26.94 rpo 3.2 CE Shrek av 36.8 rpo 3.6 BA Raine av 42.35 rpo 3.7 RML Taylor av 62.75 rpo 4.3 JKH Naik av 54.5 rpo 4.2. Not exactly the a Test Match attack for the so called star batsman.
Armchair Expert
Guest
Hodge.
Mitcher
Guest
Yet... As discussed above, even Strauss is on the record as not believing that happened.
HB
Guest
I don't buy the 'disrupting the team' line. These are grown men. They're there to do a job, and part of the job involves finding ways to get along with their co-workers. They should just put him in the team if he's good enough and find a way to make it work. This whole debacle reminds me of a schoolyard dispute among a group of teenage girls.
Homer Gain
Guest
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/875077.html The best balanced piece on this issue to date.
marees
Guest
Who? Its been a decade since last Triple in county cricket. And who can do that in 1 day?
JimmyB
Guest
KPs fielding is tantamount to sabotage as far as I'm concerned, he's god awful.
JimmyB
Guest
Cheers fellas. On a side note, it was mentioned that Strauss offered KP a role with the ODI and 20/20 teams, but he turned it down. Strauss has said that there will be a certain separation between the Test team and the shorter formats from now on, so players that would have had a problem with KP will be involved with the Test team but probably not the ODI team anymore, the likes of Cook, Broad and Anderson. KP was offered a way back into the England fold but he refused it, shame because he would have had a lot to offer I imagine to the younger players coming through, not necessarily on team building, or fielding but his batting wasn't/isn't half bad.
JimmyB
Guest
Spot on.
JimmyB
Guest
Pietersen was incredibly unpopular at Hampshire and barely even played a game for Surrey in his last stint. He also fell out with plenty in SA before he moved to England.
Zim Zam
Roar Rookie
If KP was serious about getting back into the team, why did he go and write a book badmouthing half the current players? Does he honestly expect to get away with that, and then be welcomed back? I can't imagine, after everything he's said and done, how the team could possibly function with him back in there. I know he thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread, but really, Kevin, you can't have it both ways.
Nudge
Guest
Great post Jimmy
mattyb
Guest
Your spot on jimmyb,KP should have buttoned his lip and kept making runs and although Strauss is a doosh,KP proved he is totally untrustworthy.He makes me think of a child when they promise to be good when they get sent to their room only to give you a gob full or chuck a sissy fit when you don't change your mind.
Sideline Comm.
Guest
You're barking up the wrong tree, champ, JOC is one of the better journalists on this site. Petty attacks are boring; if you are just going to use your opinion in an attempt to denigrate others, this option site doesn't need you.
Sideline Comm.
Guest
In the second division of an English county side? I think there a lot more than those few who could do that.
dasilva
Guest
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/24314424 Since the incident, Pietersen admitted sending messages to his "close friends" in the Proteas dressing room but denied initial reports that he passed on information on how to get Strauss out. Strauss, who also revealed Pietersen visited his house to explain himself and apologise, says he is satisfied the messages did not contain such information but the issue marred his final days as a professional cricketer - admitting he was "wallowing in a rising tide of sadness" as the story developed. "I wasn't all that bothered about him sending texts to the South African players he knew quite well," said the 36-year-old. "I did, however, have issues with him criticising me to the opposition. "That felt like talking out of school, not to mention giving the opposition a way to drive a wedge between Pietersen and myself and the team. "And if he really had given information about how to get me out, well that amounted to treachery and I would never forgive him. "I am confident, in retrospect, that he did not give the South Africans information on how to get me out.
dasilva
Guest
The content of the text message was that Pietersen called Strauss a Afrikaan translation of c**t (I don't entirely blame Strauss for his commentary gaffe considering he didn't do anything worst than what Pietersen done to Strauss) From KP perspective he mention that he was annoyed that when he scored a century (the innings 149), Strauss didn't acknowledge it and he was upset by his perceived snubbed from Strauss. Clearly Pietersen was being childish and probably deserve some penalty for insulting his captain to the opposition but the whole giving tactical advise to the opposition was a myth/rumour
golden
Guest
not hussey? he went of his own accord, even if Clark didn't help him celebrate afterwards
marees
Roar Rookie
I can remember Symonds & Katich. Who is the third one?
marees
Roar Rookie
was the advice something like, swing the ball and make it hit the stumps. Because thats what happened in the last innings of that series.