It's Tough Being Me - The Kevin Pietersen Story

[four_or_six]

Are you a Tottenham fan, sorry if you are.

Nah, don't really like football

 

[marc71178]

Also, it is not like he played 10 tests and doesn't have the temperament for it. He has played 100+ tests. Digging old graves doesn't do English cricket much good. Such a non progressive attitude to have.

Oh yes, it's clearly more progressive to bring back a man who was in decline for a significant time prior to being dumped from the team 18 months ago.

 

[marc71178]

KP is going to sue the ECB and there is no reason he shouldn't.

What possible grounds would he have to sue them?

 

[Pothas]

Graves should actually go over this.

 

[Niall]

KP going to be on Newsnight soon.

edit, my bad


he is just been discussed.

 

[Bahnz]

Yeah, Morgan has a loud voice, but the ECB have plenty of journalists who tow the line for them, Agnew of the BBC, Selvey of the Guardian, Pringle and Simon "The analyst" Hughes of the Telegraph, and Paul Newman of the Mail to name just a few, all have fought the ECB battles over the years.

Ugh, I've never liked Hughes, but listening to him on the TMS podcast last night was infuriating. I can understand there being no way back for Pietersen because of the book, but trying to argue that he was a rubbish player that deserved to be dropped in the first place is just pathetic dishonest propaganda.

Knowing the **** that Pietersen is, I wouldn't be surprised if he soon makes noises about wanting to sue the ECB for damages resulting from the cancellation of his IPL contract under false premises.

 

[Cruxdude]

Just sad we will not be seeing KP in tests anymore.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

It all sucks balls and not in a good way.

Todays newspaper is tomorrows chip paper might not work on this one.

 

[social]

I just felt perhaps it could be done differently, by saying: ‘At the moment the middle order is playing exceptionally well, we’re backing these guys, the Ballances, the Roots, the Bells, etcetera etcetera, but while you are still playing for Surrey while still scoring runs, you are staking a great claim’."

Alec Stewart - the voice of reason

No wonder he was overlooked

 

[GIMH]

KP at it on twitter. Buffoon.

 

[Pratters]

KP at it on twitter. Buffoon.

Yeah he should be all calm and Buddha. Give him a break.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

KP at it on twitter. Buffoon.

To be fair they have shafted him. Might have been payback but it a pretty ****ty thing to have done.

Dangle a carrot then snatch it away despite him doing what he was asked.

 

[harsh.ag]

KP at it on twitter. Buffoon.

Interestingly, and topical to our comparison yesterday, Warne being a much bigger buffoon on Twitter. Honestly think had social media been around during Warne's career, we may have seen some fireworks

 

[fredfertang]

He's a silly ****er is KP - if he'd played this right the groundswell of support he could have got would have been enormous - just goes to show Piers Morgan isn't the best source of PR advice

 

[harsh.ag]

He's a silly ****er is KP - if he'd played this right the groundswell of support he could have got would have been enormous - just goes to show Piers Morgan isn't the best source of PR advice

His England career is over, fred. No grounswell support was going to fix that.

 

[Flem274*]

The trust issue is huge. The team needs to trust he'll put the team goals ahead of his own. It's not about just scoring a ton because, at best, he'll only do that once or twice a series anyway. No matter the level, they're still a team and when blokes are in it for themselves, the team suffers whereas guys, even ****s, who understand the social contract they sign when they join a team, raise the performance of those around them.

The ECB has handled this poorly but the bottom line is if England can't trust KP with all the intangibles, he shouldn't be picked. All the perpherial stuff would be far easier to forgive if he was doing the team thing right. England did, at one stage, know how to manage more aggressive personalities, KP had his most productive periods when the team was practically over-flowing with them. I reckon blokes like Vaughan being in charge are the missing piece.

yup, came in to post a less classy version of this and i'll add Oz and NZ may well be a bit sad KP isn't in the team if he's really so bad for the dressing room. England trying to kill itself instead of you is always a bonus.

Such BS.

KP affects the performance of others by his mere presence? What kind of a portrait exactly is being painted of professional cricketers here?

Some players don't like him and that's it. Maybe he will positively affect the batting of Root and Lyth and Ali and Stokes. But of course if he ****s with Captain Cook's temperament...

no offense (so lots of offense obv) but how much team sport have you played?

 

[cnerd123]

I've played plenty of cricket and I don't get the trust issue.

The trust comes when we have players who cbf. And they end up looking bad and being dropped.

I can understand it in football - you get ****s who hog the ball and go for glory shots and don't play selflessly. But I've never witnessed a cricketer do this. The only ones are dumb ****s who, if we had enough players, would be dropped and warming the benches for being such dumb ****s.

KP isn't like that.

I think the Warne analogy is correct. He is a prick but he's a prick who wants to score big runs and be on the winning team.

The point of team atmosphere/spirit was also well addressed by whoever said that elite sport attracts a lot of ****s, and it's up to the management to control them. If they feel they can't handle KP that speaks more about them than it does about KP.

 

[harsh.ag]

yup, came in to post a less classy version of this and i'll add Oz and NZ may well be a bit sad KP isn't in the team if he's really so bad for the dressing room. England trying to kill itself instead of you is always a bonus.

no offense (so lots of offense obv) but how much team sport have you played?

Flem, I have been part of plenty of teams in my life, and there have been plenty of people I didn't like, and plenty of people who didn't like me. But we always managed to put up a good show regardless, and their presence didn't make my performance suffer (funnily enough). Not to mention, it's clear that this is a tussle of egos, and the egos with power are crushing the one without. Shouldn't be this way. Management is supposed to be better than this.

Could give you countless examples of sporting teammates not being able to stand each other but still playing together well, even in sports which are way, way more of a team sport than is cricket. I won't, though, as you seem to have made up your mind.

 

[cnerd123]

The dressing room point is valid in general tbf. It just shouldn't be an issue at the International level.

 

[OverratedSanity]

KP at it on twitter. Buffoon.

What the ****'s he supposed to do now? Even a saint in his position would be running his mouth on twitter, much less a prick like him. I honestly can't believe the attitude here tbf. Yes, he's a complete dick, but he has every right to react on twitter after ECB's ridiculous carrot dangling. It could've been handled way better and honestly this specific thing (ie) him being told to score county runs, and ECB not picking him despite doing so, is not KP's fault. I don't see how it could be at all.