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Andy Flower, the England team director, has defended England's handling of Kevin Pietersen
and suggested that the player's desire to appear in a whole season of
the IPL proved to be the catalyst that destabilised his relationship
with his team-mates and the ECB.
Flower, speaking for the first time since Pietersen was omitted from the
final Test against South Africa, admitted that batsman may never play
for England again, but insisted that the team could retain their No.1
Test ranking even without the man many consider to be their best player.
Flower also joined those calling for a window in the international
schedule for the IPL, though he conceded there was little realistic hope
of that at present.
"I think it's fair to say that Kevin's issues over being available for
the entire IPL have changed his attitude," Flower said. "I think that
was the catalyst for a lot of the stuff.
"The IPL and the international fixtures in England are an area of
conflict. And it will continue to be an area of conflict in the future.
It would be better if there was a very clear window prior to our
international season starting. But it doesn't look like that is an issue
that is going to be sorted out in the future so it may well recur."
Flower did accept responsibility for some failures of man management
within the England set up, but insisted that Pietersen was guilty of far
more serious errors of judgement.
"You are questioning whether he has been managed properly," Flower said.
"I suppose it's fair to ask that question. I think that's what we've
been doing over the years. There are certain behaviours that are
unacceptable and I think we've seen some of that just recently. So to
move forward we must get over those hurdles.
"If you are asking if we take some responsibility for it I'm quite happy
to take responsibility for a number of issues if that is the case. I
don't think text messages from an England player to South African
players with some of the content I've heard that is in them is my
responsibility.
"I think one issue that I could have handled better is when I heard that
some of the players were occasionally looking at that Twitter account
that had been set up by some England supporter, or Nottingham supporter.
I could have nipped that in the bud earlier.
"But let's just be perfectly clear on the severity of the situation.
There is one thing a few players having a giggle at a Twitter account,
there is another on some of the issues that we have seen rear their
heads over the last two weeks. It is not just about the text messages,
there are other issues to be resolved."
Flower confirmed that the ECB had approached officials with the South
Africa touring team with a view to being shown the text messages
Pietersen sent to their players that are alleged to have contained
derogatory comments about England captain Andrew Strauss, but insisted
the issue extended deeper than a mere spat between two senior players.
"The issue is not specifically between the captain and Pietersen,"
Flower said. "There are a number of unresolved issues and it would be
inaccurate to judge it as just an issue between those two.
"At this juncture there's no meeting in the diary. We've just finished
this Test match. I understand some people would like this resolved
overnight, but I don't think it is something that can be resolved
overnight if we want to go about it properly. There are a number of
outstanding issues to be resolved. An example of that would be finding
out exactly what these text messages contained if we do really want to
move forward either way.
"I think face to face and man to man, where you can look people in the
eye, is always the best way to resolve most issues. I think these things
should remain private. I don't think they should be played out in the
media so leaking information, using PR agencies etc to resolve this
issue is not the correct way to go about it.
"I'm not sure of exactly the best way to investigate it, to be honest.
We've tried to focus on playing cricket leading up to this Test match
which is how this Test series should have been. It's really sad for
everyone involved the focus wasn't on playing cricket here."
Flower was quite clear that Pietersen's current apology - either the
YouTube video or the letter sent through his management company - was
inadequate and did not constitute a resolution to the situation. He also
hinted that it was hard to see the issue being resolved before central
contracts are offered to players, which is likely to happen before the
team departs for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in mid-September. That
suggests Pietersen may well not be considered for England's tour of
India. He confirmed that Pietersen would not be offered a central
contract until the issues were resolved.
"He sent an apology via his agent to the ECB," Flower said. "If you are
going to move on from situations such as this you need to know exactly
what situation you are moving on from. So I think we need to get to the
bottom of some of this speculation and rumours before we move on.
"Regardless of central contracts, I wouldn't like to put a time frame on
it because that might unrealistic. To resolve certain issues of trust
and mutual respect, it might take longer than that. I would rather not
speculate [on whether Pietersen may have played his last game for
England]. But he was speculating on it during the Test series, so there
is a chance I suppose.
England's one-day side has shown it can flourish in the absence of
Pietersen with Ian Bell slotting into the openers' role, while Alex
Hales made 99 in the Twenty20 against West Indies. Flower believes that,
if the situation is not resolved, the Test team can move back to the
top of the rankings without Pietersen.
"Without a doubt," he said. "English cricket has a great history and it
has a great future. It is bigger than any one player. You will always
move on from anyone, whether it be a captain, a coach or a player. I
think the most important thing is that we do the right thing for England
cricket. That's how we will make our decision.
"We try to make decisions that are in the best interests of the England
cricket team or English cricket. That is what I've tried to do since I
joined this team and that's what I will continue to do."
George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: George Dobell
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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