It can't get worse... it does get worse. I presume England will persist with this rubbish top 4? I'd keep Hales, but the rest have to go. Lumb was past his best when he left Hampshire. Wright can never find a slot to make his own. Root is not a T20 player. Dernbach is a joke. Carberry has an average of 32 opening the batting in T20, not even in the bloody squad. I expect Danny Briggs to come back from England duty a worse player for Hampshire after being mucked around yet again.
Abysmal tour, and that is being fairly generous. Flower goes, but England have been poor in the One Day game since Giles has taken over, so I wouldn't have much confidence if he gets it. For me, the Sky Sports pundits should all get a coaching role.
Although it really shouldn't do, I would expect that our performance in the t20 world cup next month will play a part in whether or not Giles gets the main job. It certainly does appear the case that it will be one man for all three formats, so either Giles becomes the new man, or he too is out of a job.
There must be something in the background that we are unaware of....this isn't the first time that there has been a rift. I know they are not the best to judge, but some Australian cricketers have said in the past that KP is disruptive. I suppose the decision has been made to start afresh. Sad, because although he hasn't been brilliant recently, I'm sure there are some great innings left in him.
What on earth are the ECB doing? Pietersen is a great player. He isn't in great form, but who the bloody hell is for England. I think he is just a scapegoat for a failed tour, and the ECB have picked on the guy seen as a 'troublemaker'. Stupid.
Bring back Vaughan bloody hell. Cook and Flower have just failed big time. Flower has gone, but on his own accord and still works for the ECB. England's 'star' man, the man with that special class that can get the crowd excited and play great shots (and yes some poor ones, but so does everyone) has been booted out. How on earth is Cook still captain?
Exactly. They haven't got a bloody clue. Just listening to 5live, and Michael Vaughan made a good point asking why the ECB have done this now. If Pietersen is such a 'bad character' in the dressing room, why not send him home after they went 3-0 down, and he played that poor shot to get dismissed in the third test. He said if KP was that bad, it would have been 'leaked' to the media in Australia. It wasn't. He also, and quite rightly, said that many people will be angry about this and deserve a proper explanation.
The ECB need to explain this properly. Do they really expect people to believe they are effectively retiring KP because they want to plan long term? If that was the real reason why not drop him in a month's time, after the T20 World Cup? I don't really believe the stuff about him being disruptive either - nothing has been leaked to that effect and I've seen a couple of journalists say he spent hours in the nets trying to help other players with their batting (Broad and Anderson - who couldn't stand him a year or two ago - were cited as specific examples of guys who've changed their stance at the crease in response to advice from KP). By all accounts Pietersen isn't an angel but he's been treated very badly by the ECB. The problems in 2012 came from him saying he wanted more rest. That was rubbished but now people are talking about players being burnt out so it seems he was right. There's been incredible hypocrisy from the ECB over limited overs cricket as well - Strauss and Cook have both been allowed to play ODIs but not T20 and yet KP was told he had to play both or neither. I'm sure he'll go off, play the Big Bash, IPL etc and make millions. Hopefully he'll also be in the Surrey side when they play at Guildford this summer - the ground is literally just over the road from my flat and he got 200 there in 2012.
An absolute joke. If people can't manage their best assets, they shouldn't manage at all. It seems it was all very rank and file in tbe dressing room and with a maverick you have to manage them differently. He is the one player every team feared in all three formats. Stupid decision. on a slightly different note. Giles will definitely get the job full time, so the whole application process is also a farce. What coach will accept that they can not select the best player other than one involved in this decision.
Disappointed England have got rid of their best and most exciting batsman. The way they have targeted and scapegoated KP has been disgraceful.
To be fair, he hasn't really played that we'll recently (ok, who has?) but it always seems that he's more worried about himself than England and has lost the will and patience to build an innings when things aren't going so well. Also, there is no doubt that he is an unsettling influence in the dressing room. The mistake was bringing him back into what was a team performing well. He wasn't required and it sent out all the wrong messages. Good decision in my opinion.
Based on what? Some of his shots? Did you see some of Ian Bell's shots? Pietersen was slaughtered when he got out trying to hit Lyon for 6 at Perth but the next wicket to fall in that innings was Ian Bell, caught behind trying to play an upper cut over the slips! Of course there were no calls for Bell to be dropped. I mean it's a commonly held view that Pietersen just says "It's the way I play" but Pietersen's strike rate in the Ashes was 49 runs per 100 balls, as compared to 61 runs per 100 balls over his career. Which suggests he tried to adapt his game and play for the team this winter. I's another commonly held view that he unsettles the dressing room but, again, based on what? There were no rumours of him causing trouble in Australia. In fact the worst story that came out while he was over there was that he and Stuart Broad went out and had a few drinks together one night. Given Broad couldn't stand KP not long ago I would argue that's actually a good sign. Graeme Swann also said a couple of weeks ago that since he's come back into the team KP's been fine. As I said earlier, the journalists who were in Australia say he spent hours in the nets trying to help team mates with their batting. Mark Butcher has also said that on the rare occasions KP trains with Surrey the youngsters rave about him and how much time he has for them. That doesn't sound like someone totally selfish to me. As for bringing him back into a team that was performing? Well that's just not true. He only missed one Test, which England lost. He also missed the 2012 World T20 where England went out early after winning only 2 matches, one of which was against Afghanistan. He came back in for the India tour and produced an incredible innings in Mumbai which helped turn the series on its head. To put this decision into context our Test team now has 4 experienced players that are almost certain to play the next Test: Cook, Bell, Broad and Anderson. Stokes will also play but is very inexperienced. Then you have the likes of Root, Ballance, Borthwick, Carberry and Prior who are possibles but far from guaranteed a place. Those guys are either very inexperienced, utterly out of form or a combination of the two. Then you have question marks. Frankly, this England team is in total disarray. My fear is that this decision has been made because Pietersen is the one England player who has consistently played in the IPL and the ECB have their heads so far up their own arses they can't accept what every other national cricket board has had to accept - allowances must be made for the IPL. I personally have no interest in the IPL but millions do and in the long term (assuming the IPL is around in the long term) the ECB will have to allow England players to go and play in the IPL. My fear is that they don't want to do that so they've come up with a short term solution - sack the one England Test player who plays in the IPL.
Just listened to Bob Willis on Sky, who knows a thing or two, and he reckons KP has unsettled every dressing room and coach he has ever played for. I agree that that there have been some really bad decisions this year, but this isn't one of them.
If English cricket needs an overhaul, then an overhaul it must be. Compare it to football, it would be like saying we need to change and then Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney keep playing. If you are starting a gain, then start again
I have said all I have to say about KP in the past , I do agree however that if Flower has gone and now KP , how the hell Cook can stay as captain is beyond me ! I agree with Fatletiss , if you are going to start again , do it completely .
