It's Tough Being Me - The Kevin Pietersen Story

[Pup Clarke]

Had never really thought of Prior as captaincy material initially, probably because of his wicketkeeping ability. You can't really have skippers who are unable to do the basics, but I think it would be a sound choice now. He comes across as a pretty confident cricketer and would be more positive than Strauss I imagine - in his field settings and risk-taking.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Well you never know, it depends on what's said on that press conference tomorrow, although the absence of Strauss at the conference or at least the presumed absence probably means its a statement on KP rather than Strauss.

 

[uvelocity]

Social has form in this area: he advocated the retention of Symonds long after his final turps-inspired antic had finally exhausted the selectors' patience.

champion. played juniors at my club. would have all the records by now. ****ing prissy selectors.

 

[Jono]

Records of what? Could probably break Boon's beers on a plane record I guess.

 

[GIMH]

Cricinfo reckon it might be Strauss stepping down

 

[silentstriker]

Wow. I trust cricinfo over most newspapers - they are definitely very good when it comes to reporting facts. I've almost never found them to be wrong.

EDIT: well, they're citing other newspapers, so who knows....

 

[BoyBrumby]

Guardian suggesting Strauss may be pulling the plug.

Right call, IMHO. Deserves at least the Indian series back in the ranks to see if the removal of the burden of captaincy has a positive effect on his batting. IIRC he had a very good tour on our last visit. Twin tons in the first test or have I imagined that?

 

[social]

Social has form in this area: he advocated the retention of Symonds long after his final turps-inspired antic had finally exhausted the selectors' patience.

I love watching KP bat; I'm on record as saying there's no-one currently playing I'd rather watch. However, cricket is a team game and there must be a tipping point. Even BC Lara, another high-maintenance player whose genius shone far brighter even than Pietersen's, was ultimately deemed to not quite be worth the ball ache and hurried into retirement.

And look what happened to Symonds and the OZ odi team as a result - man and team management at its worst (at least it was until this farcical situation)

 

[marc71178]

Symonds was nowhere near the class of KP but was rightly cast out for being a complete ****.

KP is being rightfully treated like the **** he's behaved like.

Not at all bad man or team management, just people being treated the way they deserve for acting like complete dicks.

 

[social]

Symonds was nowhere near the class of KP but was rightly cast out for being a complete ****.

KP is being rightfully treated like the **** he's behaved like.

Not at all bad man or team management, just people being treated the way they deserve for acting like complete dicks.

Shane Warne abused a team member on live tv and the coach every time he got the chance

Half of Richard Hadlee's team wouldnt speak to him for extended periods

Don Bradman was despised by many of his teammates

David Campese - ****

Wally Lewis - ****

Greg Norman - ****

Nick Faldo - ****

Romario - ****

I could go on and name 100 more examples if you like of sportsmen who werent liked by team mates but were picked because they got the the job done

For whatever reason, England are trying to rewrite the criteria by which sportsmen are selected and it has already cost them the world no. 1 test and odi rankings

Idiots

 

[Jono]

Shane Warne abused a team member on live tv and the coach every time he got the chance

Half of Richard Hadlee's team wouldnt speak to him for extended periods

Don Bradman was despised by many of his teammates

David Campese - ****

Wally Lewis - ****

Greg Norman - ****

Nick Faldo - ****

Romario - ****

I could go on and name 100 more examples if you like of sportsmen who werent liked by team mates but were picked because they got the the job done

For whatever reason, England are trying to rewrite the criteria by which sportsmen are selected and it has already cost them the world no. 1 test and odi rankings

Idiots

I disagree with you but most of what you say is not unreasonable and its fair enough to have that view.

But to say that England cost themselves #1 because of how they handled KP is just a completely false statement with no basis at all. They lost the first test with him before any of the locker room scandal stuff really blew up, and importantly, they lost a bucket load of tests in Asia and the Middle East before this **** too.

 

[marc71178]

Ha ha, yet more bollocks.

England lost the number 1 spot in ODI's because of KP? The same spot they got without him?
They lost the number 1 spot in Test's because of KP? Bull**** even by your standards.

There's a difference between no being liked by team-mates (and obviously some of those you've named really needed to get on with their team-mates when they competed in individual sports) and being employed and paid very handsomely then breaking all sorts of moral and contractual obligations.

 

[Spikey]

I disagree with you but most of what you say is not unreasonable and its fair enough to have that view.

that said Symonds was a drunk who clearly let it affect the team's performance. KP and most of the others on the list are dicks. That's a pretty huge difference and I don't see any real comparison between the two. Not that social himself drew the comparison.

 

[wpdavid]

Why is Social pretending that KP got dropped simply because his team-mates don't like him?

 

[ganeshran]

Why is Social pretending that KP got dropped simply because his team-mates don't like him?

Wasnt he treated differently?

Swann wasnt fined for the comments in his autobiography yet KP was fined for his rant against Nick Knight.

 

[wpdavid]

Wasnt he treated differently?

Swann wasnt fined for the comments in his autobiography yet KP was fined for his rant against Nick Knight.

Which of Swann's comments should have got him fined? Genuine question, as I haven't read the book.

Agreed that KP shouldn't have been fined for his comments about Knight, unless there's some contractual; angle that I've forgotten.

None of which is terribly relevant to KP being dropped anyway.

 

[AlanJLegend]

KP has certainly put England in a tough spot.

If feelings towards him in the dressing room are really as negative towards him as the media makes them out to be (which I doubt) then they can't really bring him back in. But the way he is playing, they are really giving themselves the short end of the stick by omitting him.

 

[social]

Ha ha, yet more bollocks.

England lost the number 1 spot in ODI's because of KP? The same spot they got without him?
They lost the number 1 spot in Test's because of KP? Bull**** even by your standards.

There's a difference between no being liked by team-mates (and obviously some of those you've named really needed to get on with their team-mates when they competed in individual sports) and being employed and paid very handsomely then breaking all sorts of moral and contractual obligations.

To attain the no.1 ranking takes years, not a couple of matches and KP contributed as much, if not more than anybody to get them there.

Unfortunately, losing it came down to one match in both and look at the teams Eng trotted out!

If you dont think that one of the best players in the world in those formats could've got them across the line then there isnt much hope for you

FYI, golf has team competitions, none of those guys were liked by the vast majority and all got picked every single time

Why?

Because winning golf is about getting the ball in the hole in the fewest shots not about who gets on with you

Where was this strict adherence to contractrual obligations when Strauss opted out of the Bangladesh tour?

Where was Endland's moral compass when Swann shafted team-mates in his autobiography?

It's a joke

 

[ganeshran]

Which of Swann's comments should have got him fined? Genuine question, as I haven't read the book.

Agreed that KP shouldn't have been fined for his comments about Knight, unless there's some contractual; angle that I've forgotten.

None of which is terribly relevant to KP being dropped anyway.

He criticized KP's captaincy and Samit Patel in the book. My point was that KP has always been given the short end of the stick when it comes to enforcing rules, while other team mates have been treated with more consideration for similar offences.

That doesn't change the fact that KP has been a **** and has mostly himself to blame for the his current predicament, but it does show that ECB's stepmotherly attitude towards him could have been a factor in his decision making.

 

[Spark]

That Nick Knight thing was kind of odd, it's not like KP was the first to quite publicly express his disaste of Knight (though KP was by far the most vocal)