“Kevin is an unbelievable player, but I have long since stopped trying to guess how he will play the next time I see him.” – Andrew Strauss.
It was just about the nicest thing Strauss said about his teammate and predecessor as England captain, Kevin Pietersen.
I was wondering, as Pietersen had his extraordinary press conference at Headingley on Monday night, what all those people who felt he was wronged by South African cricket in the late 90s were thinking now.
KP plays for KP: forget all that self-indulgent twaddle about how he feels sorry for the fans, as he said “because the saddest part about all this is that the spectators just love watching me play – and I love playing for England”.
I was asked during an interview with a local radio station on Sunday if I would have Pietersen in the South African team. It was the day after his amazing assault on the South African attack in which he made all of them – including the world’s best bowler Dale Steyn – look decidedly average. Anyone would have that version of Pietersen in their side I said, but the pettiness and self-righteousness that he has displayed in recent weeks would not go down well in the current South African team.
To watch Pietersen in the last two Tests, when there is no cricket on the go, has been weird. At training, he spends a lot of time by himself. There is very little interaction with teammates. In warm-ups before play starts he is more chatty with the South African players than the English ones.
In the shared space that was the lunch area for the two teams at Headingley, he was cracking jokes in Afrikaans with some of the South African players, much to Strauss’s chagrin. He texted many of the South African players regularly during the second Test, and his general demeanour towards the tourists has been friendly – possibly too friendly for Strauss and Andy Flower.
I think Pietersen misses playing for South Africa. For all the money he has made and prizes he has won with England, if he had the opportunity to go back, I think he would have liked to have fought harder to get into this South African team, to play alongside Jacques Kallis, who he has enthusiastically described as the greatest cricketer ever. Or with Steyn and this South African attack who he called “fighters” at the weekend – praise that didn’t go down well with the England fast bowlers.
Texting, back-slapping and jokes at lunch… maybe that’s all the South African players want to see of KP.‘Kevin is an unbelievable player, but I have long since stopped trying to guess how he will play the next time I see him.” – Andrew Strauss.
It was just about the nicest thing Strauss said about his teammate and predecessor as England captain, Kevin Pietersen.
I was wondering, as Pietersen had his extraordinary press conference at Headingley on Monday night, what all those people who felt he was wronged by South African cricket in the late 90s were thinking now.
KP plays for KP: forget all that self-indulgent twaddle about how he feels sorry for the fans, as he said “because the saddest part about all this is that the spectators just love watching me play – and I love playing for England”.
I was asked during an interview with a local radio station on Sunday if I would have Pietersen in the South African team. It was the day after his amazing assault on the South African attack in which he made all of them – including the world’s best bowler Dale Steyn – look decidedly average. Anyone would have that version of Pietersen in their side I said, but the pettiness and self-righteousness that he has displayed in recent weeks would not go down well in the current South African team.
To watch Pietersen in the last two Tests, when there is no cricket on the go, has been weird. At training, he spends a lot of time by himself. There is very little interaction with teammates. In warm-ups before play starts he is more chatty with the South African players than the English ones.
In the shared space that was the lunch area for the two teams at Headingley, he was cracking jokes in Afrikaans with some of the South African players, much to Strauss’s chagrin. He texted many of the South African players regularly during the second Test, and his general demeanour towards the tourists has been friendly – possibly too friendly for Strauss and Andy Flower.
I think Pietersen misses playing for South Africa. For all the money he has made and prizes he has won with England, if he had the opportunity to go back, I think he would have liked to have fought harder to get into this South African team, to play alongside Jacques Kallis, who he has enthusiastically described as the greatest cricketer ever. Or with Steyn and this South African attack who he called “fighters” at the weekend – praise that didn’t go down well with the England fast bowlers.
Texting, back-slapping and jokes at lunch… maybe that’s all the South African players want to see of KP. – The Star