South Africa’s national players, angered by the England Cricket Board’s insinuation that they manipulated Kevin Pietersen’s axing from the England team for the third and final Test at Lord’s in August, have demanded an apology from the ECB chairman David Collier.
Collier’s remarks at the weekend, that the South African players manipulated the Pietersen text message saga for their own ends, has enraged Cricket South Africa officials and Graeme Smith’s players.
Smith yesterday described Collier’s comments as “unwarranted” saying what he’d insinuated went against the values of the national side. South Africa won the three-match Test series 2-0 against England to claim the No1 ranking in the game’s foremost format, but much of the build-up to the third Test at Lord’s was overshadowed by the texting controversy, which led to Pietersen being dropped from the England team for that match, the squad for the World T20 and the tour to India.
Last week he was reinstated on the understanding that he would undergo a “reintegration” process that included one-on-one meetings with all the England players. Collier told a UK radio station at the weekend that it was the South Africa team who had leaked the texts in which Pietersen was apparently disparaging about former England captain Andrew Strauss. South Africa has always maintained the texts contained only banter.
Yesterday the South African Cricketers Association, the players body representing all professional cricketers in the country, called on Collier to apologise.
“Our players are angered by David Collier’s claims that they employed unfair and unsporting tactics against Kevin,” Tony Irish, SACA’s chief executive, said in a statement. “By his own admission Mr Collier never saw any text messages, or correspondence, and we know that Kevin himself has never suggested that he was provoked, so where is the evidence for this claim?”
“In international cricket, if a player makes an inflammatory comment or accusation he gets punished,” said Irish. “Look at what happened to Kevin Pietersen himself. The players think the same should apply to administrators especially when this is done publicly. Our players are awaiting an apology.”