Kevin Pietersen

TheDrog

Whatever your views on KP, it has to be said fair play to him

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110635351373

Kevin Pietersen Queensland Flood Relief Appeal

I am auctioning my Ashes shirt and bat as used in this year’s Ashes series, shown in the picture. I will personalise the bat to the winning bidder. I will also include 2 tickets to the last One Day International game in Perth on the 6th February, and the bidder will come and watch the team train the day before. I will also provide 2 economy return airline tickets from anywhere in the World to Perth and 2 night’s accommodation at a hotel in Perth for the 5th and 6th February.

Please dig deep to raise as much as possible.
Thanks
KP

Bidding is at £29,300 at the moment

TrueDub

That's impressive. My first thought was that this was a wind-up by someone, but it appears it's genuine. Fair play to him.

JustinDee

No fan of his by any means, but he has raised AUS$50,000 apparently. That is very admirable. And its not something he mulled over. He got on the case right away.

TheDrog

At current exchange rates the bidding is at A$50,354.24

Beasty

BBC Radio interview here

d'Oracle

He is rather good a batting.
He is slightly better than a pie chucker.
He can be rather mouthy in the media.

Those are my opinions on KP.

kryogen

From personal experience I am not a big fan of KP, he is arrogant and generally out for himself, since the birth of his child recently enough though he does seem to have changed a little.... long may it continue cause even up to last year when a certain Irish cricketer who plays for England was asked what KP was like he simply responded, " he is the biggest wanker I have ever met"


EDIT: and of course you have got to give credit where its due, he deserves plaudits for what he is doing regarding the flood, fair play

Moist Bread

It is clear he is doing it for a bit of attention as well as to help out the flood victims, not that it matters at all, really. Fair play to him for doing something.

Also had a good chuckle at the Irish cricketers opinion on KP

Dozen Wicked Words

So the winner of the auction was a fake bidder, what a tosser, putting it mildly.

From Twitter :

StuartBroad8: Kps auction winner a fake. Who does that?! It's for charity, it's like stealing from the victims. Idiot. Should be a punishment.

markbrop

KP is a truth teller and all truth tellers are disliked by people who cannot handle the truth. The vast majority of great players do get on with him. Warne said he was an absolute pleasure to captain.

riffmongous

Dozen Wicked Words and Kryogen closed accounts? Shame

I would like to see KP back at some stage alright, it's a pity for him to be frozen out like that for personal reasons

markbrop

I presume the Irish player they are referring to is Eoin Morgan - he seems to get irritated every time journalists ask him about Pietersen. I hear Alastair Cook doesn't like Pietersen either.

Beasty

KP had his chances and blew them. It's a team sport. No point in having a great player that causes so much disruption resulting in the team as a whole underperforming. That's the position the ECB have taken and are sticking by, with the support of the senior players who do want it to be all about the team rather than one individual.

markbrop

Well it hasnt really worked Beasty. Look at their performances since he left - two awful global tournaments and two test series wins out of six and those were largely down to the bowlers. None of the current England top five have yet to score a century in the series against a poor SA bowling line-up - no Steyn and no Philander.

Beasty

They are not doing too badly in SA. Also someone like Joe Root may never have come to the fore if Pietersen was still in the team. Bottom line is none of us can say what would have happened if he had been brought back at any stage. Yes the team may have done better, but there is an alternative school of thinking that I subscribe to that the team as a whole would have suffered while KP remained the guy obsessed with making the headlines.

markbrop

"Also someone like Joe Root may never have come to the fore if Pietersen was still in the team"

Could that be the same Joe Root who gave an interview to Michael Vaughan recently, saying how much he had learned from playing with KP?

Beasty

I would be delighted if he could be properly rehabilitated for the good of the team. However I don't know the guy, and have to trust those who do know him - what they've said about him and the disruption he has caused. I suspect he (and certainly not the ECB, or those he has played with) has burned that particular bridge.

markbrop

"I would be delighted if he could be properly rehabilitated for the good of the team. However I don't know the guy, and have to trust those who do know him - what they've said about him and the disruption he has caused. I suspect he (and certainly not the ECB, or those he has played with) has burned that particular bridge."

But who are these players Beasty? The two players he slaughtered in his book Prior and Swann have now gone from the side. I've heard Cook doesn't like him because one of Pietersen's mates called him "a weasel" on twitter when Pietersen was sacked and Cook's wife was in tears about it. Broad has stated that he would have no problems sharing a dressing room with him and the likes of Bell, Carberry and Root have all said how helpful he was to them.
I've heard Flower still has a big say even though he has gone as coach.

markbrop

The other thing that really baffles me is if Pietersen was such a disruptive influence on the team why on earth did Strauss offer him an advisory role in the ODI and T20 sides? That just does not make any sense whatsoever.

markbrop

Interesting article here calling for Pietersen and Luke Wright to be included in the T20 World Cup squad. One of the posters claims that Pietersen and Morgan are actually best mates which totally contradicts what was said before!

http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/961923.html

Cricket fan

If Pieterson was ever gonna comeback it would've been in the aftermath of the WC when England lost a test to the awful Windies. However they didnt go back to him, reinvented their limited overs sides and are have done fine without him. Cant see him ever returning now.

Wright should definitely be in the WT20 squad though, gun t20 player.

markbrop

Cricket fan wrote: »

If Pieterson was ever gonna comeback it would've been in the aftermath of the WC when England lost a test to the awful Windies. However they didnt go back to him, reinvented their limited overs sides and are have done fine without him. Cant see him ever returning now.

Wright should definitely be in the WT20 squad though, gun t20 player.

To be honest I cannot see him returning either but they havent done ianything in a major tournament since 2010 and only Morgan has IPL experience.

Beefy78

Just watched KP smash a great innings in the Big Bash final. T20 isn't proper cricket, it's entertainment and a way to get new supporters into the game. Get KP and Wright in the side.

Rjd2

Beefy78 wrote: »

Just watched KP smash a great innings in the Big Bash final. T20 isn't proper cricket, it's entertainment and a way to get new supporters into the game. Get KP and Wright in the side.

Wright is a tried and tested failure on the international scene, and lets not forget he did nothing in the IPL ever. KP for slagging off English players will never play internationally again and he has nobody to blame but himself.

markbrop

Rjd2 wrote: »

Wright is a tried and tested failure on the international scene, and lets not forget he did nothing in the IPL ever. KP for slagging off English players will never play internationally again and he has nobody to blame but himself.

KP was actually sacked ten months before he wrote that book and I'm pretty sure he would have been sued if he had not been telling the truth. Ponting and Smith both backed him up completely. Shane Warne got it spot on when he said that is simply a victim of poor management.

Beefy78

KP was an easy scapegoat after the 13/14 Ashes. He remains England's best player and I don't see any harm in having him around the T20 squad. We've moved on as a team in Tests, and no one really cares about ODI so I've no strong opinion there but in the 'bang, bang, bang' gimmick form of the game he's the best we've got and should be in the side.

markbrop

Beefy78 wrote: »

KP was an easy scapegoat after the 13/14 Ashes. He remains England's best player and I don't see any harm in having him around the T20 squad. We've moved on as a team in Tests, and no one really cares about ODI so I've no strong opinion there but in the 'bang, bang, bang' gimmick form of the game he's the best we've got and should be in the side.

Why on earth has Bell been dropped from the test side Beefy? He is a far better player than Hales, Taylor or Compton?

Beasty

markbrop wrote: »

Why on earth has Bell been dropped from the test side Beefy? He is a far better player than Hales, Taylor or Compton?

The break will do him the world of good
When on song a great player. When not he can be quite poor.

Bottom line is they have to try different things, which is what they've done on this tour. Even if critical of the individuals, the net result in SA cannot be sniffed at

markbrop

Beasty wrote: »

The break will do him the world of good
When on song a great player. When not he can be quite poor.

Bottom line is they have to try different things, which is what they've done on this tour. Even if critical of the individuals, the net result in SA cannot be sniffed at

He hasnt really been picked in his proper position (number five) for a quite a while though.

Beasty

They won the series. That's all that really matters so far as I am concerned.

Would also have thought there was a bit of a clue in the title of that article.

markbrop

Beasty wrote: »

They won the series. That's all that really matters so far as I am concerned.

Would also have thought there was a bit of a clue in the title of that article.

Yes they got away with it. The SA selectors might well have got away with another awful decision (picking Van Zyl instead of Cook) if Steyn and Philander had been fit but they didnt.

You obviously think that Bell will be back then. I dont get this break thing at all. Its not as if Bell has been playing T20 cricket or ODI cricket lately.