It’s been confirmed in the last few hours that Kevin Pietersen has been sacked as England cricket captain. If not sacked then he has resigned from the position. The reports on BBC News and Cricinfo both point to the fact that the ECB have not yet made an official announcement regarding his departure but, to my mind, there’s no doubt that KP has been told that he’s no longer the man for the job.

Cricinfo suggest that he may have tendered his resignation

…Kevin Pietersen, and the coach Peter Moores, after a dramatic day in which both men are believed to have tendered their resignation…it appeared that Pietersen had taken his future into his own hands, and handed back the role he took on from Michael Vaughan barely five months ago…

but I’m more of the opinion suggested by the Mihir Bose on the BBC site

Pietersen gave an ultimatum to the ECB saying ’sack the coach or I go’…The ECB has said ‘we value you as captain but we don’t take dictation from you’. So they accepted his ultimatum and he has suffered.

This is further compounded by Pietersen being “not in a fit state to talk” when interviewed by Sky News.

Whether he jumped or was pushed, this whole sorry state of affairs is likely to have longer term repercussions on Englands build up for this summers Ashes series. I voiced my concerns back in August when Michael Vaughan stepped down as England captain

Give KP the job and we lose our best batsman. He is simply not captain material and, even if he were, would you risk your one world class player when there are better contenders out there?

Having given him the job and then taken it away again, I can see this affecting his performances on the field. Add to that the suggestion that he wasn’t a popular captain with some of the team, I wonder just how much damage has been done.

As Thomas said in his post yesterday

Neither Moores, nor Pietersen for that matter are bigger than the team as a whole. KP may think that he is and that may have been what caused these problems in the first place.

Whether right or wrong, the actions of Pietersen and Moores have now created a major problem in the England dressing room and it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

The 2009 Ashes series is only a few months away. With KP likely to suffer a dip in form and with the inevitable dismissal of Peter Moores, we’re going to be going into the Ashes badly prepared. Talk of Ashley Giles taking over as temporary coach fills me with dread and Andrew Strauss as captain? Well let’s just rewind a few short months and remember that the guy was struggling to get a game at international level.

Australia, having been punished by both India and South Africa, were looking like arriving in England in a state of flux. Calls for the return of Shane Warne show just what a desperate situation they find themselves in. England being England have managed to do a Spinal Tap and turned the chaos up to 11.

As Graham Gooch said on 5 Live, “it’s an unholy mess at the moment” and if the track record of the ECB is anything to go by, it’s only going to get a lot worse.

UPDATE: So according to the official press conference, Pietersen resigned from his position and it was Moores that was sacked.

Oh really? Why don’t I believe that? Why do I think that the ECB have pandered to KP and allowed him to say that he jumped and wasn’t pushed? Let’s face it, his agent would find it tougher to negotiate future lucrative marketing deals for a sacked England captain, wouldn’t he? Much easier to push the face of a man who tendered his resignation for the good of the team, eh?

Pietersen lets the cat out of the bag himself in his official statement:

Contrary to media speculation, I wish to make it very clear that I did not resign as captain of the England cricket team this morning…

So, you were sacked then, Kev?

…but in light of recent communications with the ECB, and the unfortunate media stories and speculation that have subsequently appeared, I now consider that it would be extremely difficult for me to continue in my current position

Oh? So those unfortunate media stories weren’t around before this morning then?

In my opinion Pietersen was sacked and the ECB, after lengthy negotiations with his representatives, have agreed to cover it up and say he walked.

Tags: england cricket, kevin pietersen

As we all know, there is only one cricket story to talk about right now. The ongoing dispute between England captain Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores has left the future of the latter very much in the air. So, who better to ‘call for unity’ than Steve ‘I’m committed to England, but not when we have to be on tour for too long’ Harmison?

The pace bowler has said that Moores and Pietersen need to ‘sort out their issues’ that they have as soon as possible. He then went on to say that ‘it’s about the England cricket team’ and not about the individuals involved.

This is a view that can’t be argued with. Neither Moores, nor Pietersen for that matter are bigger than the team as a whole. KP may think that he is and that may have been what caused these problems in the first place. Something to think about I guess.

Something else the Durham man pointed out was the timing of it all. To have such uncertainty at the start of an Ashes year is ‘not ideal’ according to Harmy who also believes that if the issue isn’t sorted sharpish, then there is a real danger that the ‘team will drift further apart’. This isn’t what anybody wants.

These comments from Harmison confirm something for me. There is almost certainly division in the squad already over this issue. By saying that the team could drift ‘further apart’, Harmison is hinting that some drifting has already commenced in the England camp.

Some players will be sticking by their coach, some by their captain. Some would have preferred Michael Vaughan to have been selected, some would have been happy with his omission. Overall, there isn’t a more inappropriate term than ‘team unity’ when referring to England right now.

Instead, there is a divide in the squad that is even overshadowing the fact that Australia are getting trounced at home by South Africa and are, let’s be honest, not the force they once were.

In true English fashion though, we won’t let another team have all the problems. As Harmison says, this issue needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later, but whatever happens now – Moores stays or Moores goes – you do get the feeling that some long term damage may have already been done.

By Thomas Rooney – A sports writer who blogs about cricket betting

Tags: england cricket, kevin pietersen, peter moores, steve harmison

The featured cricket video for the last few weeks has been this fantastic reverse slog sweep switch hitty type thingummy by Kevin Pietersen. It’s a pretty impressive shot but made even more so by the fact that the bowler is none other than Muttiah Muralitharan. You know, that chap who chucks the ball has taken more Test wickets than anyone else.

This audacious shot by KP was from the 2nd Test at Edgbaston in 2006. Enjoy.

Tags: cricket, cricket video, england, kevin pietersen, sri lanka

Everyone knows that Stuart Broad is going to be in and around the England team for many years to come. After making his international debut in a one day international against Pakistan in 2006, is has been clear to everyone that he was born to play international cricket. Since then, he has become an established member of the England team and this has been recognised by the International Cricket Council. Broad is one of four players shortlisted for the emerging player of the year award.

It is good to see that his achievements at the tender age of 22 haven’t gone unnoticed. He may have struggled slightly with the ball in the Test matches this summer, but since Kevin Pietersen took over the captaincy there appears to be significant improvement. In the Test match at The Oval he took five wickets and then in the ODI series he helped England dismiss South Africa for 83 by taking five wickets in an impressive ten over spell. The fact that Pietersen opted to give him the new ball in the ODI games has done wonders for his confidence.

Of course, had it just been for his bowling, I’m not sure Broad’s place in the team would be quite so secure. Nor would he have been nominated for any awards. This is because the thing that makes Broad such an exciting talent is his outstanding natural ability with the bat. In the nine Test matches he has played, he averages 37.20. In the games against South Africa this summer he averaged 53.66. Not bad for a number eight batsman is it? There was even talk that he should have moved up to number six in the batting order to accommodate Andrew Flintoff’s preference to batting at seven. This has obviously now changed with Freddie’s return to form, but it does show how much belief people have in Broad’s batting.

For the future though, I think that number eight is his position. The England batting line-up looks a lot stronger if Flintoff is in form at six, then Matt Prior as the wicket-keeper at seven and the talented Broad at eight. This has a healthy and balanced look to it and it has a lot to do with the batting ability of Broad. It is, of course, his bowling that needs to be his main discipline though and I’m confident this will be the case based on his recent displays.

Something he needs to do is work out what type of bowler his is. I have witnessed him mixing up his line and length and trying to be an out and out quick bowler. It is my belief though that he should adopt a Glenn McGrath style of bowling. Bowl every single ball in the same areas. Frustrate the batsmen and rely on consistency. If he did this, I would place a lot of my cricket betting money on him taking plenty of wickets for England. With the likes of Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff in the side, Broad doesn’t need to be an over-the-top aggressive bowler. Instead, he should plug away with consistent line and length – something he has done with success in the games since the change of skipper.

For what it is worth, I think it is unlikely Broad will actually win the award for the emerging player of the year. I think the cricket odds will tell you that new Sri Lanka spin king Ajantha Mendis is in line to pick up the award. He has taken an incredible 26 wickets in three test matches and 33 wickets in 13 ODI’s since making his debut in April 2008. He seems a remarkable talent and one who will end up being the long-term replacement for Muttiah Muralitharan.

Broad won’t be too concerned about this though. He should be more concerned with resting up ahead of the winter tours of West Indies and India. I mean, if he continues to improve his bowling and continues to maintain his excellent batting form, this certainly won’t be the last award he will be nominated for during what should be a long and successful career with England.

Thomas Rooney – Freelance Sports Journalist

Tags: cricket, england cricket, icc, kevin pietersen, stuart broad

Well he’d certainly like us to believe he is and, if you were to go along with some of the stuff that’s been written recently, it’s a view shared by journalists and pundits alike but just how good is he?

Now don’t get me wrong, our performances since he took over the reigns from Vaughany have been pretty impressive. We won the final Test match of the series and are 4-0 up in the ODI series with just the final match to be played tomorrow. Freddie Flintoff is back amongst the runs and Steve Harmison is back amongst the wickets. On the face of it he’s performed miracles since taking over. A win tomorrow lifts England up to second in the ODI world rankings but let’s just put things into perspective for a minute, shall we?

The win in the final Test was against a South African team who had already done what they set out to achieve which was secure a first Test series victory on English soil for over 40 years. Sure there’s the professional pride thing but I’m sure that as far as the Saffers were concerned they’d already done the job. To a certain extent that attitude has spilt over into the one day team. They weren’t helped by the injuries to key players but I can’t help feeling that their heart wasn’t in it. I’m not saying they’ve rolled over and kicked their legs in the air but I feel that if the Test series had gone the other way that we’d be seeing a different South Africa team.

Ian Bell gives us an interesting insight into Team KP in this quote from the BBC website:

Kev (Pietersen) sat down with us before the series started and gave us an honest chat about where he thought we were as a team…It’s pretty obvious to see that at times we can play outstandingly well and at times we can be pretty poor…The one thing he has tried to mark on everyone is that we have to have consistency and everyone has bought into that…

So the key ingredient to Pietersens success is by getting highly paid professional sportsman to stop being shit, then. Getting the players to agree that they need to perform consistently doesn’t strike me as being revolutionary and, if anything, says more about them than it does about him.

Maybe it’s just the curmudgeon in me. Possibly it’s because I wanted Fatboy Fat to take over but for whatever reason I’m still not totally sold on Pietersen as skipper.

Bring home the Ashes next summer and then I might reconsider.

Tags: andrew flintoff, cricket, england cricket, ian bell, kevin pietersen, south africa, steve harmison