Kevin Pietersen - The man under the scanner

Kevin Pietersen is one of England’s most successful batsmen. He doesn’t fit the typical boring forward defensive English stroke player. Ever since he flounced onto the scene with that famous yellow strip through his hair, everyone involved with English Cricket knew they had found a gem. His first tour, in his native home of South Africa was a controversial one. He was heckled wherever he went… almost like a film villain. After a brilliant series against South Africa, where he took on their pace bowlers in that familiar KP style, the South African crowd actually warmed to his talents, which isn’t hard after he finished the series with an average of 151! He wasn’t booed or heckled, on the contrary, he was applauded. Pietersen himself had stated that he was surprised with the way the fickle South African crowd had changed their mind on the man who left his birth place. Surely, the start of an illustrious career…

After, several sub-continent failures and 7 years down the line, Kevin Pietersen is in dispute with the ECB once again, this time over texts he sent to ‘buddies’ Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers. These texts were sent during, yes during, the SA tour of England! In these texts, he apparently degraded Flower and Strauss, coach and captain, using some derogatory terms against the pair. Pietersen has later admitted he sent these childish messages and he was later dropped from the 3rd Test squad, understandable from a team that is built on unity and respect.

Pietersen was sent back to his county where he recently played in 40-over games against Hampshire and Glamorgan, notably falling to young spinner Danny Briggs for a golden duck but then smashing a quick 40 in a match dedicated to the recently deceased Tom Maynard. As we speak, he is on 136 not out off of 139 balls in a County Championship match for Surrey (vs. Somerset).

There is no doubt the England team is weaker without Pietersen towering over the bowler, a bowlers nightmare, but Flower and Strauss are sending out a message – we would rather have a weaker team than a team not built on unity. The big question is – will we see the style and attacking flair of the tall, recognizable figure of Kevin Pietersen once again?