ECB supremo Paul Downton has admitted England should have handled the fall-out from Kevin Pietersen’s sacking better — but insisted it was the right decision.
Speaking for the first time since the confidentiality agreement between Pietersen and the ECB ended in October, Downton played down the maverick batsman’s claims of dressing-room bullying.
Pushed to explain why Pietersen — who was released yesterday by his IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils — was sacked after the Ashes whitewash almost a year ago, England’s managing director said: ‘All one has to do is read Kevin’s book to see how disaffected he was. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to explain to some people’s satisfaction what happened. I can repeat what we said at the time, which was that people felt Kevin had become disengaged and that we needed more from our leaders.
‘I’m sure we could have handled it better. I’m sure I made mistakes at the time. But it’s history. We can’t change it. My only driving force is what’s best for English cricket. Am I content that we made the right decision? Absolutely.’
The ECB hierarchy have come under fierce criticism for their failure to comment on some of Pietersen’s allegations in his autobiography, not least the claim that there was a culture of bullying led by the senior bowlers and wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
Downton said: ‘You can go on denying all sorts of things. The reality was that there is no formal complaint of bullying on anyone’s record during that whole period.
‘We all know it was a surprise in terms of how Kevin portrayed that environment. None of the other players recognises it.’
Downton stressed the gains English cricket had made since the Ashes car-crash and said he would be ‘very surprised’ if Alastair Cook is not confirmed as captain for the World Cup on Friday.
‘He’s having a terrible time at the moment,’ said Downton. ‘But we are playing a World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with two new balls, where his track record is good.
‘Everybody goes through a bad period. But his form has to turn.’ – Daily Mail