An Indian Contribution to an English Story

Kevin Pietersen is one of a number of players, fast bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad are the others named, who were seen urinating on the Oval pitch after the team had gathered round to celebrate with beer.

They were spotted by a handful of Australian journalists who were working late into the night for their newspapers back home and the revelations have cast something of a shadow – “dampener” would perhaps be more apt – over England’s remarkable triumph. There are calls for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to take some sort of action against the alleged culprits. Now here is the clincher – Pietersen in the September issue of the UK monthly The Cricketer has stated in an interview that he would never urinate in public!

It was during the open bus parade of the English team through London’s Trafalgar Square following their breakthrough “Ashes” victory at home in 2005 that Pietersen stopped the bus to take a toilet break in a coffee shop.

“A lot of people think I’m just this muppet who walks around doing silly things,” Pietersen told The Cricketer. “Put it this way, I’m not that silly. I’ll know I can enjoy myself, have a laugh, but I’m not that silly. Freddie (Andrew) Flintoff would have pissed on the bus. I decided to stop it and do something normal.” Eight years later Pietersen presumably considers it normal to urinate on a cricket pitch!

He was right about one thing though: Flintoff, one of England’s stars of that series, was reported to have urinated in the backyard of No 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister (then Tony Blair) who was hosting a reception for the victorious team the day after the series ended at the Oval with the home side taking the Ashes 2-1.