Kevin Pietersen: :(

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http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/articles/ecb-chairman-colin-graves-comments-week

So he's basically stating KP got the wrong end of the stick. I don't think it would be the first time (Didn't the same happen with the infamous team meeting?) However I'm sure someone could have pointed KP in the right direction as he did make it clear as to what he thought the conversation meant and playing county cricket over the IPL.
 
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I'm sorry but you don't miaunderstand when you are about to rip up a 250k contract, you make **** sure what you are committing to.

Graves is as lying and deceitful as the rest of the ECB which is disappointing when I had high hopes he might help break the mould. Disgusting bare faced lies once again.
 
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He's made a lot of statements he shouldn't have made, about being impossible to ignore etc. but in true weasel fashion has made all of those statements without anything ever being concrete.

He was never in a position to give him a place in the side so it was out of order making the comments he did from the position he did and now everyone has rightfully called him a **** for doing it, he's coming out with more weasel words to try and save face. Hopefully anyone with half a brain will see he's just as lacking in any moral substance as the rest of them.

It's high time English cricket got a kick up the arse and started being run with the objective of winning things and putting out the best team possible, not just babysitting a group of over sensitive manchildren while they continue to perform poorly and whine that they don't get on with someone.

It's utterly utterly pathetic, it's the sort of nonsense you'd expect to see in a Secondary School football team.
 
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I'm kind of warming up to the idea of an Aussie coach, should get an Aussie chairman and director too, they would kick some serious **** and sort them out. Putting politics and mates before success, pathetic.
 
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I'm kind of warming up to the idea of an Aussie coach, should get an Aussie chairman and director too, they would kick some serious **** and sort them out. Putting politics and mates before success, pathetic.

No way. Can you ever imagine the Ozzies having an English coach? Wouldn't happen, and it shouldn't happen to us either.
 
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What KP did texting the opposition is inforgivable. He should never ever be back in the England dressing room. However, I do believe he has been led up the garden path by Graves.

Pietersen does not guarantee success.
 
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I think we can safely conclude that Graves is talking weasel words here.

He obviously told KP enough that the picture was clearly that he, as the incomming Chairman of the ECB, was prepared to give KP the chance to get back in the team, and that therefore KP had a chance at getting back in the team.

He didn't say it was assured he would get back in the team, since that's not the chairman's call and it relies on more than just an agreement as KP has to play well enough to get the place - but he gave enough indication for KP, and the public frankly, to conclude that KP wouldn't be vetoed if he could prove his form warranted selection.

It's probably the case that Graves didn't bank on such resistance from Cook, and other senior team members (Anderson, Broad), and has had to back down, internally, due to that resistance.

Whatever his reasons for the about-turn, to claim that he didn't mislead KP is simply garbage. He ****ed up - by presuming that it was his call to make, and giving that impression to KP.
 
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by presuming that it was his call to make, and giving that impression to KP.
That's what I didn't get at the beginning of this whole sorry affair. Graves is not a selector and would not be able to get KP back into the team without either intimidating the selectors or removing them (if he can even do this) and replacing them with selectors loyal to him.

According to this http://www.ecb.co.uk/ecb/about-ecb, the Chairman of the ECB oversees the board which holds the chief executive of the ECB and the management team to account. It's the chief executive and the management team in day to day charge of the ECB so therefore, I would assume, they hire and fire the selectors not the Chairman.
 
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That's what I didn't get at the beginning of this whole sorry affair. Graves is not a selector and would not be able to get KP back into the team without either intimidating the selectors or removing them (if he can even do this) and replacing them with selectors loyal to him.

It's not quite even that. I'm sure Graves never purported to be able to actually select KP, but the impression he gave was that he would be able to clear the way so that KP's selection would be assessed on a fair cricketing basis, rather than based on past grudges.

If Strauss had said to KP that he wouldn't be selected for the NZ tests, and there were no plans to bring him in for the Ashes, but that he would be considered on his merits if a change to the middle order was needed, then KP would have been accepting. The trouble is that the path for him back into the team is not simply based on his ability to play, or a space opening up, but relies on removal of actual obstacles - obstacles which Graves had told or insinuated to KP would be removed.
 
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It's not quite even that. I'm sure Graves never purported to be able to actually select KP, but the impression he gave was that he would be able to clear the way so that KP's selection would be assessed on a fair cricketing basis, rather than based on past grudges.
If that is the case I still don't think that's within Graves' remit. He only became chairman on Thursday and yet he made this claim a few weeks ago.
 
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Err, you know he did go back into the dressing room after the texts and played more tests?
And look how well that turned out. The dressing room was split and poisonous. He should have been dropped there and then, yet more inept handling by ECB. The bloke deliberately went out of his way to screw his team mates over. That is the be all and end all.

ECB just digging the hole deeper. Decisive leadership from the start would have put this all to bed. KP could be earning a fortune somewhere and things could have moved on. But sadly it hasn't.
 
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Seems that, indeed, Graves had told KP there would be a "clean slate". KP was never promised, nor expected, any guarantee to return to the team.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/32764672

Graves, in the manner a professional politician would have been proud of, managed to put out a denial statement denying something no-one had actually accused him of. Whilst avoiding addressing the thing he HAD been accused of, of course.

And look how well that turned out. The dressing room was split and poisonous. He should have been dropped there and then, yet more inept handling by ECB. The bloke deliberately went out of his way to screw his team mates over. That is the be all and end all.

He didn't try to screw anyone over. The early allegation that he was giving playing tips to the Saffers turned out to be entirely unsubstantiated - he was bantering about Strauss.
 
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Seems that, indeed, Graves had told KP there would be a "clean slate". KP was never promised, nor expected, any guarantee to return to the team.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/32764672

Graves, in the manner a professional politician would have been proud of, managed to put out a denial statement denying something no-one had actually accused him of. Whilst avoiding addressing the thing he HAD been accused of, of course.



He didn't try to screw anyone over. The early allegation that he was giving playing tips to the Saffers turned out to be entirely unsubstantiated - he was bantering about Strauss.

****ging your captain off the opposition is screwing everyone over. Ruins the dressing room and builds up the opponents. He deserved all he got but..... it should have been dealt with properly, banned him for good and never ventured into again. He has been treated appalingly since but I have NO sympathy for him whatsoever after what he did initially.

Why would you introduce a known problem within a group when you are trying to build a team. You don't and that should have been the official line from day one because in reality its the ONLY one there is.
 
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Surprised Strauss is coming in for so much flak over this as the decision to exclude Pietersen was taken long before he was appointed, it seems some just want to make him the fall guy for not reversing that decision.

The real crux of the issue seems to be that maybe there were mixed messages going out which suggested KP had a chance of getting back in. Personally I'm just fed up of the whole saga, it would have been better had Graves not said whatever it was he said.

As for the fundamental issue of whether KP should be involved, personally I'm happy to wash our hands of him due to all the prior misdemeanors and the way he seemingly has burned his bridges with his use of the media in recent times. Don't forget this is the guy who thinks he is more important than anyone else, when he was captain delivering ultimatums that the coach had to go etc. Biggest cheer I've ever heard at a cricket ground was when he was bowled by Briggs for a golden duck at the Rosebowl, he is not very popular in these parts. To sum up, he would be a disruptive influence and at 34 is not the future of English cricket.
 
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Surprised Strauss is coming in for so much flak over this as the decision to exclude Pietersen was taken long before he was appointed, it seems some just want to make him the fall guy for not reversing that decision.

The real crux of the issue seems to be that maybe there were mixed messages going out which suggested KP had a chance of getting back in. Personally I'm just fed up of the whole saga, it would have been better had Graves not said whatever it was he said.

As for the fundamental issue of whether KP should be involved, personally I'm happy to wash our hands of him due to all the prior misdemeanors and the way he seemingly has burned his bridges with his use of the media in recent times. Don't forget this is the guy who thinks he is more important than anyone else, when he was captain delivering ultimatums that the coach had to go etc. Biggest cheer I've ever heard at a cricket ground was when he was bowled by Briggs for a golden duck at the Rosebowl, he is not very popular in these parts. To sum up, he would be a disruptive influence and at 34 is not the future of English cricket.

Perfectly put.
 
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I believe the captaincy thing was actually that the ECB hierarchy was unhappy with performances and asked for a report from Pietersen on his opinion of Moores. Pietersen reported that he didn't rate Moores at all, which was pretty much in line with the sentiment at the ECB.

At the same time, Pietersen was suffering from something of a disjointed dressing room cohesion - with some players not being happy with his captaincy.

Hence, the ECB got rid of them both. He didn't ultimatum the board about Moores' removal.
 
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