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That’s an exaggerated version of the kind of headline that’s been cropping up after Kevin Pietersen’s interview with the Observer.
It’s a shame that’s the angle that’s taken, because actually Pietersen’s got a lot of sense in him and it gets washed away by all the indignant, semi-xenophobic spitting that results from his continued portrayal as something of a cartoon figure.
Elsewhere in the article, Pietersen talks about the lack of fast bowlers in county cricket, pointing out that the heavy scheduling basically eradicates them. He points out that this isn’t really the best preparation for Test cricket where facing fast bowling is pretty much a batsman’s main challenge.
“You need to play each match like a Test match, instead of up and down the country, playing every day.”
No-one’ll listen to a fine batsman who has an outsider’s clarity in his views on county cricket though, because of the one-note caricature of him that’s always presented.
There’s a reason we won’t listen to a player who moans about ‘burnout’ after accepting millions to play extra cricket whilst injured.
Presumably that’s Flintoff you’re talking about, Pat.
KC has it dead right, though – Pietersen can do no right by some. His critics would do well to honestly put themselves in his shoes. Who would turn down the IPL’s three weeks’ work for four years’ wages? What if rather that being on holiday in Portugal, KC was in fact doing a three-week stint writing Rei Grilo for a million quid? Who could blame him, even if his vital work here suffered as a result?
The ECB needs to start dealing with reality as it is, not as they would like it to be. Write a player’s full availablity for the IPL into the central contract, then the player might start to see that contract as something to work with, not as a shackle.
Sounds good.
Put some shoe polish on him and change his name – he can play for India. We’ll treat him right. Plus, he’ll make our batting lineup look even more beastly
Why is KP “doing the Brett Lee” in that picture?
English fans are boring about KP.
They slag him off continually for not scoring more when he top scores for them.
Yawn.