CAPE TOWN – Kevin Pietersen has done it again.
Just when you thought he was out of the cricketing limelight, he puts his foot right back into it again by proclaiming on UK sports radio station talkSPORT: “I’ll play for South Africa!”
As if the Proteas want him…
Look, KP at his best for England – remember the 2005 Ashes and the subsequent ODI series in South Africa – was a formidable beast. He had developed his game from being an off-spinner who batted at No 9 at Natal to one of the best batsmen in the world.
Pietersen was someone who could take the game by the scruff of the neck and change it in the direction he wanted it to go with an array of shots all around the wicket, and people paid good money to watch him.
Well done to you, KP.
But it’s 2017, and Pietersen will only be available to play for South Africa in 2019 – just in time for the ICC World Cup! We know the man is a T20 specialist around the world these days, but come on, we’re speaking about international cricket for the Proteas here.
And let’s deal with the elephant in the room – yes, some people’s “favourite” word, quotas. Remember how KP blasted our beloved Mzansi when he left in a huff after being dropped from the Natal team?
He claims it was because of quotas, and that Gulam Bodi was picked in his place. Never mind the fact that left-arm wrist-spinner Bodi had been the SA Under-19 tweaker a year or so before…
“I was dropped because the quota system was brought into South African cricket to positively discriminate in favour of ‘players of colour’ and to fast-track the racial integration of cricket in the country,” he said in his book Crossing The Boundary.
He was offered a county deal at Nottinghamshire by Clive Rice, and the rest is history.
Again, well done to him for making a success of his career.
But then why criticise South Africa once in England? In addition, the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union president at the time, Rob Kurz, told The Mercury newspaper in Durban in 2006 that Pietersen had actually been offered a place at the Kingsmead cricket academy with a sponsored education and cricket coaching after he left Maritzburg College, and a junior contract with KZN for the 2000/2001 season.
Pietersen chose not to take up the offer, with Kurz stating: “They (KP and his father) sought assurances at a meeting with myself and CEO Cassim Docrat over whether we could guarantee him a place in the team.
“More specifically, they wanted to know whether transformation would play a role in our selection policies.
“I was very upfront with them. I said that transformation would play a part, and that the UCB (United Cricket Board of SA) had made certain undertakings to fast-track transformation in the overall interests of the game in this country.
“I also said that no player could be guaranteed a place in the provincial team.
“I wished him luck if that was his decision (to go to England), but I emphasised that if he was good enough, his progress would not be hindered and that he would play for Natal.
“Transformation also means that the best players are chosen at provincial and national level.”
Ah, there we have it. If he was “good enough”, he would’ve made it at Natal and probably for South Africa. But KP, you chose to leave on your own accord.
Now, 17 years later, you want back in? Without having said sorry for all your comments about South Africa? And with the England logo tattooed on your left arm?
That’s not even considering his current form. Pietersen has been playing the shortest format of cricket in various leagues, and he is likely to line up for the Durban franchise in the new T20 Global League that will start in November in South Africa.
Thanks guys! So excited to be back playing in England for one final time! End of a chapter, but been a fun one... https://t.co/Tsgt2IP3DM
— KP (@KP24) July 19, 2017
How exactly does that make him good enough to play ODIs for the Proteas in 2019, when he will be 39?
Even the man who was called “Figjam” by the Aussies in the past (go on, google Figjam!) knows it’s a long shot that he will be fit and good enough to play ODI cricket then.
“I’ll play in South Africa for the next two years, I’ll play in Australia for the next two years, I’ll play in Pakistan for the next two years,” Pietersen told talkSPORT this week.
“The issue with (playing in) England next year is I’m building a lodge in Africa, and the time I’ll be there with my family and doing stuff in Africa is over this period, so I won’t be in England next year.
“And then I don’t think at 39 I fancy warm-ups in the summer.”
When asked by talkSPORT if he would keep playing after that, Pietersen said: “I’ll play for South Africa!
“It’s a possibility, whether it happens we’ll wait until 2019. All I’m doing now is committing to the franchises. I don’t know, we’ll see.”
KP, you’ve had a great time as captain and batsman for England, and you’ve got the pop star wife in Jessica Taylor. Enjoy your last cricketing days as a T20 dasher.
But don’t think you can just waltz into the Proteas team. They don’t need you.
Remember, as Faf du Plessis said in February last year, “Look, KP’s played a great career for England, but certainly from a South African perspective, he’s English…"
*Ashfak Mohamed is the Digital Sports Editor at Independent Media
@ashfakmohamed