Kevin Pietersen

The ECB has packed his gear up for him and he's been told to sling his hook.

About time if you ask me, he's done nothing for a while now and is obviously a disruptive influence.

He's been a good player for England though and had that bit of wow factor once.


http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/articles/statement-kevin-pietersen

Ridiculous they've ditched him before the 20/20 world cup though.

A great batsman but too arrogant and definitely not a team player. He showed his true colours with the Textgate fiasco.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Ridiculous they've ditched him before the 20/20 world cup though.

Well since the last 20/20 World Cup he's retired from limited overs cricket and then come back.

He wouldn't have been selected and I doubt that Broad would have wanted him in the team anyway.

i'm sure he'll get over it qucickly with another million pound deal with the IPL.

I agree with RT, he shouldn't have been allowed back after the texting story came out, and his form has been very average since then.

Isn't he a hairdresser now?

I don't understand why they have made this decision now, you would have thought that if they wanted rid of him then the perfect opportunity would have been after "textgate" which really was stupid. From what's come out today it seems that this has been an ECB board decision and not a matter of Pieterson upsetting the players or management, if it is then they should have said why they have paid up his contract and effectively finished his England career. Not a good start for Downton IMO.

He's a South African cock.

Yeah, so he scored a few runs for us......

He got a tax-free house, a minor celebrity ex-pop star wife and a Bentley for doing it.

"I'm Sooo glad I decided to be English and play for England at cricket after I couldn't get in the South African Under 21 Development squad. Wow, yeah....I'm completely English."

He's been a prick from Day One but because he can smash it for six over long off, we've always forgiven him.

Good riddance.

Let's build for the future.

I see that the ECB have made an arse of themselves over Pietersen this time.

The correct decision in my opinion but they've handled it all poorly.

Time to go away and shut up Pietersen, you're boring now.

Agree Copper, the new Chairman Colin Graves has caused all this mess, he should learn to keep his trap shut. He also said the West Indies were garbage and we should beat them easily. The best team talk they ever had!

As for KP, he is a disruptive influence on the dressing room and even with his big score doesn't deserve his place back.

Don't know anything about Cricket but this guy is a prize tosser.

I would have used him in some capacity. The Aussies will stuff us this summer.
The great Aussie teams of the past have been full of awkward bastards,but they were able to manage them to good effect. We seem incapable of doing the same.
The fake twitter account was clearly coming from inside the dressing room,and I'm quite sure that many of the current players have been instrumental in keeping him out.
At the end of the day,Strauss is just what the ECB wanted,a fully paid up member of the blazer brigade,and a yes man par excellence.

boltonbonce wrote:I would have used him in some capacity. The Aussies will stuff us this summer.

They'll stuff us this summer because we don't have a settled opening pair and one of them has forgot how to bat anyway (Cook), a captain who isn't aggressive enough in the field or tactically, no spinner to speak of, no all rounder to speak of and a few young lads who aren't quite there yet.

We won't get stuffed because we don't have Pietersen who the Aussie's have completely sussed out anyway........ slower delivery down leg side........ watch him try and loft it over mid wicket.... catch him at mid wicket.

We'll just have to rely on Chris Broad cheating.

Or Jimmy swinging it like it's radio controlled. 

Bigger bat and ball might help.

For me Pieterson is a complete twat. A dreadful bloke, but also a BRILLIANT CRICKETER. The Australian test team has accommodated characters like him over the years with no problem. Warne and Gilchrist for example couldn't stand each other but both were world class cricketers in the same Australian team. I'm in the Michael Vaughan corner. Pick your best players and stop overcomplicating sport. He's done what was asked of him in style and should be given a chance. You have to play aggressive cricket if you want to beat the Aussies and KP is the only batsman we have who can play that way. What's to lose, the Aussies are going to slaughter us anyway, if KP comes off we may just do better than we think and if he fucks up or causes problems with team morale etc. then just get rid and we can put the matter to bed once and for all. As it is English cricket is going to be in complete disarray this summer as everyone argues the toss about KP and unless the test team does do well in the Ashes series without KP this is going to drag on and on and on.

I partly agree Hip Priest but the Aussie's haven't had the characters wanting to come back into the fold after bringing autobiographies out slagging off players, texting opposition players and slagging them off 'during tests'. I'm also pretty sure that the Aussie characters weren't disliked by most of the senior players at the time.

If it was a one off then fair enough but he has a back catalogue of being an arrogant silly arse.

And 300 an odd against the worst county side (my opinion) in this country isn't England test saviour material.

I heard a South African bloke on 5Live this morning on the phone-in basically laughing at us and saying that we are so desperate to win that we'll consider re-selecting him.

He was a cock in South Africa when he first came to prominence and their selectors wouldn't touch him because he was "all about Kevin" and they made it clear to him that if he was ever going to play for the Springboks, he'd have to swallow his ego and get with the team ethic.

And so he went off for a sulk, found a passport and decided to play for us.

Don't get me wrong, I was cheering as loud as the next man when he was smashing Brett Lee all round the park and winning the Ashes we but does that make it right?

(I felt that it wasn't really right at the time, if I'm honest.)

I'd rather we went back to the drawing board and developed young (proper) English cricketers who were born here and have played their cricket within our system, instead of doing this:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1773400-how-many-england-test-cricketers-have-been-born-abroad

Media emotion getting the better of reality here: he is nearly 35 so not a long-term prospect, is much too inconsistent, often plays reckless shots, is bedevilled by muscle injuries, is a poor fielder, is ineffective as a bowler, looks disengaged, can be downright disruptive....and is evidently a bad influence on team-morale.

 He accuses other players of being bullies, he told South Africa how to dismiss his team-mates and he undermined his captain. His running between the wickets is selfish, often leaving colleagues stranded.

 He has done nothing for Surrey this year until this last knock against the weakest team in Division 2 and on a pitch where everyone was able to score well. So why the clamour for his selection? Well, occasionally he is exciting to watch as in 2005.....10 years ago!