Kevin Pietersen in the past referred to Graeme Smith as a muppet, but after last week one has to wonder who the real Kermit is. The two South African-born captains’ fortunes could not have been more contrasting.
Smith returned home to a heroes welcome after leading the Proteas to a historic victory in Australia. This was not only a great victory for cricket, but for the whole nation.
Pietersen, on the other hand, returned to the United Kingdom after being forced to resign the England captaincy. He had to avoid a massive hostile media contingent at Heathrow airport because of the trail of destruction he’d caused. His personal crusade to have Peter Moores removed as coach has split English cricket and made him many enemies that will come back to haunt him.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain was correct when he said it was only a matter of time before Pietersen’s tenure as England captain would end in tears. Pietersen is too much of an individualist and larger than life figure to be a unifying force that captaincy demands.
Pietersen has received very little support from the public, media and especially from former England captains like Hussain, Allan Lamb and Michael Atherton. He has predictably received support from two former England greats Ian Botham and Geoffrey Boycott. However, their support will not be taken seriously as both are known to be anti-establishment and authority.
Important year
Pietersen’s career is a litany of controversies. He left South Africa because he felt that he was discriminated against because of the of quota system. To this day he continues to lambaste the country of his birth at every opportunity. He also left Nottinghamshire controversially and now he has been forced to resign the England captaincy because of yet another controversy which is of his own making.
Thanks to Pietersen, England start an important year in which they will host an Ashes series and tour the West Indies and South Africa, with no coach or captain.
In his own mind he decided that Moores was incompetent because he had never played international cricket and he could not respect him.
The professional era proves him wrong as some of the best sports coaches are those that have never played the game internationally like Mickey Arthur, John Buchanan, Jake White, Graham Henry and Alex Ferguson to name but a few.
Unrealistic
Further proof of Pietersen’s lacking of understanding or appreciation of management is that he stated that Moores could run the nets and that he would take responsibility for the team. If he thought that the England Cricket Board would employ a coach in the region of 250 000 pounds a year to run the nets is further proof of his lack of understanding. The coach’s main tasks are of a strategic nature with regards to planning, team building, man management and tactics.
Pietersen’s demands were unrealistic for a man who had only captained England for a very short time and with a limited amount of success. Also, if he found it difficult to work with Moores he should have given his relationship with the coach enough time to develop. He has now destroyed not only Moores but himself as well.
He is probably the most exciting batsman in world cricket today, but the ECB made a big mistake appointing him captain. He is not a leader but a self driven person.
He is not bigger than the game and needs to restore his credibility if he wants to continue playing for England. The Indian Premier League is not a future for cricketers, but simply a cash cow.
Arthur is a former cricket administrator and current player agent.
sport24.co.za
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I thought I’d post this now Rob is on paternity leave.
I guess this Arthur oke is not Pietersen’s agent then? 😉
@McLovin (Comment 2) :
Why do i get the feeling WPW is gaining a considerable amount of joy from this article. 😛
Who is Kevin Pietersen again?
Christo Buchner
Sydney – Jacques Kallis is on the verge of achieving a unique feat in world cricket.
The South African all-round star needs a mere 16 runs and four wickets to become only the second one-day player to achieve the mark of 10 000 runs and 250 wickets.
On top of that Kallis needs only 12 test runs to achieve the remarkable feat of 10 000 test runs and 250 wickets.
He took his 250th test wicket earlier on tour and now stands on 252.
Kallis, however, will have to wait for the first test against the Aussies at the Wanderers in Johannesburg next month to score the 12 runs and become the first test player in history to achieve the double feat.
He hopes to pass the 10 000-run mark in the one-day game on Friday and the four required wickets may not even be beyond him.
The only other player to have achieved this in one-day cricket is the Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya, who played for the Dolphins earlier this season.
Jayasuriya scored 12 861 runs and took 310 wickets in 424 games.
Kallis will play his 286th one-day game on Friday. He has also featured in 128 tests.
While he is on the verge of rewriting the history books, he is sometimes accused of batting too slowly and boosting his average at the expense of the team.
Kallis was in the dock again on Sunday after South Africa’s defeat in Hobart.
He did register South Africa’s highest score of 72, but it took him 96 balls to get there.
The talk in some circles is that South Africa would have won had Kallis batted faster. The snail’s pace at which he batted during the middle stages is said to have played a role in the required run rate getting out of hand.
Even so, Kallis is on the verge of achieving a feat that won’t be surpassed any time soon.
@wpw (Comment 5) :
Not the greatest fan of Kallis in the ODI version but it’s absolute crap to blame him for that loss…the man made 72 off 96…that’s hardly snail pace in the context of the game.
The fingers should be pointed at
1. The openers…who didn’t do jack…tick tock Herschelle Gibbs…
2. The captain/s and coach… for bringing Albie in a bit too late.
3. The poor catching – 3 missed catches is 3 too many…
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 6) :
And what about Boucher who sat on a SR of less than 50% for more than half his innings. He needs to shoulder MOST of the responsibility for that loss
@KSA Shark © (Comment 7) :
Boucher has been poor with the bat of late. He is however still a brilliant keeper and hardly drops a catch. 🙄
A good read:
http://content-rsa.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/387181.html
@wpw (Comment 8) :
I will be 100% honest with you, I suspect HE threw that match. Call it a harsh call by me if you like, but he bats like apansy and then suddenly when their is no way of winning he hits fours to make his RR look good.
They need to check his closet for leather jackets.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 10) :
I don’t think so bru. He just seems to be out of form.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 7) : @wpw (Comment 8) : And that’s why we all question the decision to put him in before Albie.
It’s like he couldn’t see the ball at all…what do you call those shots he was playing? Gosh! It was like he had a putter in his hands!
@KSA Shark © (Comment 10) : He’s not the leather jacket type. 😉
@wpw (Comment 11) :
out of form for 10 overs and then suddenly in cracking form?????????????????