The English Cricket team are staring a series defeat to South Africa in the face after Sunday, and with it, relinquishing their number one status as the best Test cricket side in the world. Although there is the chance of a turn around, the South Africans are certainly favourites heading into the final day, and subsequently, expect the media to use the omission of Kevin Pietersen as a reason for the defeat. Having said this, Pietersen’s replacement, Jonny Bairstow, contributed a fantastic debut innings and cannot be faulted for the predicament the team currently find themselves in.
The debate as to whether Pietersen was right or wrong to be included after the alleged discovery of some slanderous text messages towards Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower to South African players, Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers, is a different matter entirely. Continuously, whether a player should be dropped over something that has only been alleged (albeit KP has since admitted the messages were sent) is also a different matter in entirely. Pietersen is certainly a controversial character, and has been in the headlines regularly in recent months with his too-ing and fro-ing and disputes with the English Cricket Board, announcing, and subsequently removing, his retirement from the one day game and Twenty20 competitions for his adopted country. For a man so talented and certainly an important figurehead for the English team since his debut, it is a shame that he always appears to be finding himself in the front of regular controversy.
Pietersen’s playing approach, particularly with the bat, also normally goes one of two ways; either a flourishing, spectacular, quick-fire top figure, or a pathetic, insipid, mistake strewn lowly score. The manner in which his mindset must have been approaching this game, I would back that it would have been the latter that appeared in England’s first innings in this Test, and based on the situation they found themselves at the time when he would have walked to the crease, well, the match would already be over. Bairstow came out instead and was calm, cool and collected and helped manoeuvre the side back into a fighting chance, and eventually, on par at the end of the first innings. His score of 95 was created supremely and he is certainly looking like a long-term England international if he maintains such composure in the face of adversity.
What I am therefore struggling to comprehend then, is how people can scream for the return of Pietersen when his replacement has, so far, done a more than admirable job. The second argument would be to have them both, in which case you need to remove one of the other batsmen who are more consistent, if maybe not always hitting tons as frequently as KP does. Pietersen is also getting on now; he is reaching the end of his career, although I admit there is still a couple of good years and an Ashes series in him. But does he really want it? Does he want to be there? Or is he now happy with all that he has accomplished? If he is, then he needs to be letting the selectors know, so hungry, passionate individuals can enter the side, like Bairstow and begin to establish themselves into internationals who can be called upon when the big Test series arrive, rather than just experiencing matches against Bangladesh and the like!
So whilst Bairstow establishes himself and earns the respect of his peers, Pietersen is at the other end of the scale, with his text messages potentially damaging not only his reputation but his continued career in the game. Not only has he been critical of the captain, a man whom the majority, if not all, of the squad, are behind; he has potentially delivered damaging information regarding how to dismiss Strauss to the South African bowlers. If this revelation is true, I struggle to comprehend how KP can ever believe he has an international future again. He would be entering a dressing room that is sceptical to the approach they can adopt with him, and whether he is a trustworthy individual. For example, there will be doubts amongst many of the established players as to whether they have also faced criticism from Pietersen in some manner, or if their weaknesses have been divulged to opponents. Pietersen’s acts are just crazy, and how he thought they would ever remain underwraps when we are in the world we are today, is just ludicrous.
As you may have gathered, the media storm that Kevin Pietersen has created and which subsequently follows him around is one I am not an advocate of. Having said that, there are very few sport stars out there who I am willing to be gracious towards in that respect. I wouldn’t mind if his talents were winning England matches every time, but they do not. Yes, every so often he is the saviour once again. But Bell and Cook also do that with the bat; Swann and Anderson with the ball. He is not a stand-out player in that respect, as demonstrated by his golden duck that he accrued for Surrey this weekend. Instead he just craves to be the centre of attention and because of his expansive batting attack, the media salivate over him. Do not get me wrong, I think KP is a talented cricketer, I just believe he is easily influenced and affected by other things around him, which then causes his detrimental performances. What is for certain is that whatever pathway the man decides to take in the next few months will certainly be one to watch, if only to see its impact on the national team’s performances...
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