[cite]Posted By: nigel w[/cite]But speaking purely selfishly here as a Kent member, we need Graham Ford at Canterbury!
We need more than Graham Ford at Kent - a couple of decent middle order batsmen (in addition to Van The Man) capable of scoring half a dozen tons a season would be useful imho. The likes of Stevens et al are useful one day all rounders but not prolfic run scorers which is why we went down. Whilst Walker had had his time the loss of Dexter might prove a big mistake.
Ironic really because at the start of the season I thought that we would struggle to bowl sides out.
Silly KP seriously over-played his hand there, great batsman but not the brightest - and certainly not the most popular - by all accounts.
If you are going to try and overthrow the coach its probably a good idea to; a] Not be on holiday in Africa (where you're originally from anyway] when you do it and b] Try to ensure that you have your team-mates supporting you when you do it.
It sounds to me like KP assumed the big guns (Fred, Strauss, Cook, Colly) would support him but when push came to shove they did not back him very hard, that is certainly the case for Harmison.
The irony is that if KP does pull out of the Windies tour that MP Vaughan might be the bloke replacing him.....
An accident waiting to happen, as Michael Atherton wrote at the time of KP's appointment:
"It is no secret that Pietersen has not seen eye to eye with Moores of late and so these differences will have to be settled quickly and irrevocably," the Chief Cricket Correspondent of The Times wrote, before adding, "I hope I'm wrong, but I have a horrible feeling that this is going to end in tears."
Atherton said back then the job should have gone to Strauss.
I'm pretty certain KP will go on the West Indies tour. But if he doesn't (which I still find inconcevable) it won't be Vaughan who gets the vacant berth, but Ravi Bopara.
I am no great fan of Peter Moores but there is a principle at stake about captains holding guns to the heads of their bosses and not being allowed to get away with it.
To be honest, I was pretty stunned KP got the job in the first place. I accept there weren’t too many other realistic candidates as Strauss had only just won back his place, while Colly is forever fighting to hang on to his. KP is a great talent but wholly unpredictable and not captain material really.
I also agree with Nigel regarding KP’s rather selfish view of South African sport and its undeniable need for a quota system. Some things are more important than the sport itself and the country’s non-white sportsmen and women need particular encouragement.
Several non-white players are now making a major contribution to their team and JP Duminy was arguably the key man in their 2-1 win over the Aussies. Hashim Amla could become one of the most solid number threes in the game and I enjoyed the way he countered England’s short ball tactics in the summer.
The rugby team, under Peter de Villiers, has clearly weakened post Jake White but again one has to look at the broader picture.
However, playing devil’s advocate, I could understand a young man, like KP, with a burning ambition to showcase his talents feeling that his opportunities might be more limited. But the stance taken by SA’s sporting authorities concerning quotas is the right one in my view.
The thing with KP, for all his phoney badge kissing, he IS a South African at heart and, I fear, a cricketing mercenary if push really comes to shove.
I think as long as the IPL continues for the next few years, he’d be quite happy picking up $1.5M a year for six weeks work in India and enjoying a meaty domestic contract with a wealthy county which could spawn another $400,000. That’s around $2M a year with no endless touring as part of the England team.
I think he enjoys the high profile of international cricket for its lucrative endorsement opportunities, for a start, but I think he is very proud and the ECB will have to handle him carefully or he might just walk off in a huff.
This might be blindly optimistic but I think England would still have a chance without KP against Australia this summer. A reduced one, but still a fighting chance. I’d say give Owais Shah his chance if KP starts throwing his toys out of the pram.
Andrew Strauss has the temperament to be captain even if his shot selection outside off stump is still a bit suspect. Alistair Cook is too young and I have my doubts about his ability in that area while Rob Key, coming in as a captain, wouldn’t work – too much pressure.
Smacks to me of a case of an irresistable force coming up against and immoveable object.
I have no problem with KP being a demanding character, the question is why could he and the Manager not resolve their differences privately? To me that is likely to involve a two sided breakdown.
I would have thought that it was incumbant on the Manager to work with the talented and moody Captain to find a way through?
The issue seems to have come a head over the failure to select Michael Vaughan. Whilst I can understand the reluctance to select a player who is out of form and injury prone, if the Team Captain wants that player because he feels he will be best for the him and the team, why go against this. Cricket is different to pretty much every other team game in so far as so much rests on the Captain and his ability to manage the team on the pitch. KP is a single-minded individual. Why appoint him and then not support him?
Fascinating column by Michael Vaughan this morning. He writes:
''I think Strauss will be a very, very good captain. Such a decent man can bring back maturity and stability to the England team."
I don't know if he meant to imply that Pietersen is immature and unstable. But if he did, I have to agree with him!
Talking of whom, did anybody else find it utterly ludicrous that KP was given an armed police guard when he landed at Heathrow yesterday? FFS ! I suppose the only surprise is that the photographers trying to get a picture of him and the journalists seeking a statement weren't all arrested under anti-terrorism legislation!
i always find it strange that the OB even with their big guns on show at Heathrow still go round in pairs ! f**k me the must meet some tough pasengers, you know the ones with a bottle of water in their hand luguage those total BASTARDS !
The problem for Pietersen is that he also needs to play for England to keep his profile high and to keep the money coming in, he really can't afford to throw his toys out of the pram.
The IPL sounds good in practice with a lot of dough for not much work but if he stops playing for England then his value diminishes enormously because although his talent would be the same his worth is much, much less because he is no longer an active international player.
The IPL is not really just about who wins the comp, its about each team getting the highest profile players they can and chasing TV ratings on Indian pay TV as well as sponsorship money and advertising deals.
Good think-piece in The Times this morning by Simon Barnes on the fall-out of the Pietersen affair.
He writes: "Uniquely among sports...cricket is a game of intrigue, plot, stratagem, counter-plot, confederacy, cabal, complicity, collusion, connivance and scheming, not to mention machination, manoeuvring and engineering."
Uniquely? Has the man never read Charlton Life ???
Comments
We need more than Graham Ford at Kent - a couple of decent middle order batsmen (in addition to Van The Man) capable of scoring half a dozen tons a season would be useful imho. The likes of Stevens et al are useful one day all rounders but not prolfic run scorers which is why we went down. Whilst Walker had had his time the loss of Dexter might prove a big mistake.
Ironic really because at the start of the season I thought that we would struggle to bowl sides out.
Silly KP seriously over-played his hand there, great batsman but not the brightest - and certainly not the most popular - by all accounts.
If you are going to try and overthrow the coach its probably a good idea to; a] Not be on holiday in Africa (where you're originally from anyway] when you do it and b] Try to ensure that you have your team-mates supporting you when you do it.
It sounds to me like KP assumed the big guns (Fred, Strauss, Cook, Colly) would support him but when push came to shove they did not back him very hard, that is certainly the case for Harmison.
The irony is that if KP does pull out of the Windies tour that MP Vaughan might be the bloke replacing him.....
"It is no secret that Pietersen has not seen eye to eye with Moores of late and so these differences will have to be settled quickly and irrevocably," the Chief Cricket Correspondent of The Times wrote, before adding, "I hope I'm wrong, but I have a horrible feeling that this is going to end in tears."
Atherton said back then the job should have gone to Strauss.
I'm pretty certain KP will go on the West Indies tour. But if he doesn't (which I still find inconcevable) it won't be Vaughan who gets the vacant berth, but Ravi Bopara.
he can't even get in the bloody team which is scandalous for starters so no chance of him being made skipper.
I'd give it to Iam Bell or Alastair Cook
And IMHO Cook is alittle 2 young.
Give it to Monty !!
;-)
I am no great fan of Peter Moores but there is a principle at stake about captains holding guns to the heads of their bosses and not being allowed to get away with it.
To be honest, I was pretty stunned KP got the job in the first place. I accept there weren’t too many other realistic candidates as Strauss had only just won back his place, while Colly is forever fighting to hang on to his. KP is a great talent but wholly unpredictable and not captain material really.
I also agree with Nigel regarding KP’s rather selfish view of South African sport and its undeniable need for a quota system. Some things are more important than the sport itself and the country’s non-white sportsmen and women need particular encouragement.
Several non-white players are now making a major contribution to their team and JP Duminy was arguably the key man in their 2-1 win over the Aussies. Hashim Amla could become one of the most solid number threes in the game and I enjoyed the way he countered England’s short ball tactics in the summer.
The rugby team, under Peter de Villiers, has clearly weakened post Jake White but again one has to look at the broader picture.
However, playing devil’s advocate, I could understand a young man, like KP, with a burning ambition to showcase his talents feeling that his opportunities might be more limited. But the stance taken by SA’s sporting authorities concerning quotas is the right one in my view.
The thing with KP, for all his phoney badge kissing, he IS a South African at heart and, I fear, a cricketing mercenary if push really comes to shove.
I think as long as the IPL continues for the next few years, he’d be quite happy picking up $1.5M a year for six weeks work in India and enjoying a meaty domestic contract with a wealthy county which could spawn another $400,000. That’s around $2M a year with no endless touring as part of the England team.
I think he enjoys the high profile of international cricket for its lucrative endorsement opportunities, for a start, but I think he is very proud and the ECB will have to handle him carefully or he might just walk off in a huff.
This might be blindly optimistic but I think England would still have a chance without KP against Australia this summer. A reduced one, but still a fighting chance. I’d say give Owais Shah his chance if KP starts throwing his toys out of the pram.
Andrew Strauss has the temperament to be captain even if his shot selection outside off stump is still a bit suspect. Alistair Cook is too young and I have my doubts about his ability in that area while Rob Key, coming in as a captain, wouldn’t work – too much pressure.
Colin Cowdrey was born in India.
Ted Dexter was born in Milan Italy
I have no problem with KP being a demanding character, the question is why could he and the Manager not resolve their differences privately? To me that is likely to involve a two sided breakdown.
I would have thought that it was incumbant on the Manager to work with the talented and moody Captain to find a way through?
The issue seems to have come a head over the failure to select Michael Vaughan. Whilst I can understand the reluctance to select a player who is out of form and injury prone, if the Team Captain wants that player because he feels he will be best for the him and the team, why go against this. Cricket is different to pretty much every other team game in so far as so much rests on the Captain and his ability to manage the team on the pitch. KP is a single-minded individual. Why appoint him and then not support him?
Give it a rest man!
LOL!
''I think Strauss will be a very, very good captain. Such a decent man can bring back maturity and stability to the England team."
I don't know if he meant to imply that Pietersen is immature and unstable. But if he did, I have to agree with him!
Talking of whom, did anybody else find it utterly ludicrous that KP was given an armed police guard when he landed at Heathrow yesterday? FFS ! I suppose the only surprise is that the photographers trying to get a picture of him and the journalists seeking a statement weren't all arrested under anti-terrorism legislation!
The IPL sounds good in practice with a lot of dough for not much work but if he stops playing for England then his value diminishes enormously because although his talent would be the same his worth is much, much less because he is no longer an active international player.
The IPL is not really just about who wins the comp, its about each team getting the highest profile players they can and chasing TV ratings on Indian pay TV as well as sponsorship money and advertising deals.
He writes: "Uniquely among sports...cricket is a game of intrigue, plot, stratagem, counter-plot, confederacy, cabal, complicity, collusion, connivance and scheming, not to mention machination, manoeuvring and engineering."
Uniquely? Has the man never read Charlton Life ???