Kevin Pietersen has vented his spleen in his new book ‘KP – The Autobiography.’ Whether a cricket fan or not, you cannot have escaped the resulting furore that has emanated from the words in the book, or from his perceived behaviour over the last few years.
He is hurt, fighting back, bitter and twisted, right, wrong, a saint or a sinner. But he is at risk at becoming a cricket freak show, rather than being remembered as the ridiculously talented player he is.
When you work in sport – whether as a player, official or a journalist close to a team you are exposed to all kinds of bust ups, highs, and lows. A lot of which could be viewed as gold dust as a potential back page exclusive.
The reason you don’t divulge, spill the beans and create your own fifteen minutes of fame are many. As a journalist, member of the inner sanctum or friend you would be stupid to burn bridges. The repercussions of telling all would be that you would never be trusted again, would be unlikely to get further stories and be cast aside.
The overriding reason however, particularly for a player, is that the team is the most important thing. To throw any kind of spanner in the works is completely counter productive.
I will now ask you a few questions. Have you always got on brilliantly with everyone you’ve ever worked with? Is everyone you’ve shared office or factory floor space with classed as a close friend? Have you never bitched about a work colleague behind their back, regardless as to how petty it was or how much you regretted it later?
If you can answer yes to those questions you are undoubtedly the most popular saint to have ever graced a workplace.
And that is the crux of the Kevin Pietersen saga to me. Whether you are playing for a sports team or working on a dustcart there is no requirement to be best buddies with every member of that works team, but the common goal is to win matches or empty the bins in the best possible way. The team and its objectives are more important than any personal issues.
When Martyn Moxon was a guest on the Cricket Badger Show on Tuesday (radioyorkshire.co.uk) he expressed his sadness at the KP book sage.
“He’s clearly just a supreme talent and it’s just so sad that we’re in this situation where he’s brought out a book and he’s pretty much slagging off everyone that’s been involved with England during his period as a player.
“I do know Andy Flower reasonably well and it seems to me, from the outside, very harsh criticism,” he continued. “Andy Flower is a very caring, thoughtful, passionate individual and it seems hard to believe that he’s as bad as KP is making him out to be.
“It’s not good for the game. Cricket is being dragged through the mud a little bit.
“We’re lucky at the moment in the Yorkshire dressing room that it is a very harmonious, tight and strong dressing room, hence why we’ve been so successful.
“But it’s not easy to keep everybody happy and there will be the odd gripe here and there in any dressing room,” he added. “The important thing is, you say what you say and then you get on with it. You certainly don’t air it in public.
“I think it’s very sad that the game is being spoken about like this.
“Time will tell, but for me, it’s a shame that KP is going to be remembered for this book rather than all the great innings he played for England.”
While it is understandable that KP feels he was made a scapegoat after the 5-0 Ashes drubbing down under. He wants a right of reply. But where did venom, bitterness and revenge ever get anyone?
The ECB is certainly far from untarnished. Some of the allegations are reminiscent of a playground rather than adults playing elite sport. But KP, who seems to have attracted trouble throughout his career, is no saint. In fairness, he has never said he was one.
It us unlikely we will ever see KP wear an England shirt again and that is bad news for England, the team’s potential success and for all the supporters that watched him play.
This new book may be the truth, it may be KP’s version of the truth or, in the words of the vilified Graeme Swann, it could possibly be ‘codswallop’. Whichever, it continues to promote the KP brand, the cult hero, the Marmite man of cricket who still fills the newspapers long after he should.
There is a lot to be said for a dignified silence. But this book and the surrounding debate, the TV chat show appearances and the ‘every man and his dog’ throwing in their thoughts maintains KP in the spotlight and adds to his bank balance.
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
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