“I’m very excited by this new challenge, it is a huge honour to be appointed Test captain and am very much looking forward to captaining the side in India this winter and beyond but my immediate focus is on this current NatWest one day series. **Once the series is over **I will turn my attention to the Test captaincy and building on the work Andrew has started.”
This is probably just boilerplate, but it might suggest that he’s not falling over himself to get Pietersen back.
I don’t completely disagree, but it’s about picking the best side at the end of the day, not about making individuals conform to our ideals of sportsmanlike behaviour. The fact is, there is a lot of ego and insecurity in the world of sport, and I suspect Pietersen isn’t the worst of them. Sitting down in a room together and thrashing things out would be far more healthy than some imaginary period of penance and reflection. What would probably happen is that Kevin will get bored, and start posting drivel on Twitter again. Of course, I don’t know the whole story, but I hope everyone can be mature enough to put this behind them.
That’s the third scalp of an England captain Graham Smith has claimed, both Hussein and Vaughan stepped down after home series against him as well. Cook must be checking the future tours schedule nervously.
It’s not really about sportsmanlike behaviour (although this is cricket, after all!) but about getting the best performance from the team. One of the things that Flower and Strauss really changed about England was the sense of teamwork - all starting with a thrashing things out session after the disastrous WI Test. That unity of purpose was a marked change even from the team under Vaughan (less said about Flintoff and KP captaincies the better) and it’s not a coincidence that it led to such success. KP is a great batsman, but right now the tension he’d bring to the dressing room, training sessions and matches would stop him and probably a few other players from playing at their best.
Thrashing out - which is what needs to happen - has to take place between: KP and Flower; KP and Cook; possibly KP and Strauss; KP and the senior players - at least. If that can be done before November, great. Otherwise you can all too easily see a team imploding on the field due to tension, insecurity and ego.
Perhaps, but if his team-mates can’t perform with Pietersen in the dressing room, maybe more of the problem lies with them than is publicly recognised.