Taylor: I lost all respect for KP after he slagged me off to team-mates
KEVIN PIETERSEN came in for more criticism yesterday when ex-England batsman James Taylor called his former team-mate ‘embarrassing’ and a ‘t***’.
Taylor made his Test debut at Headingley in 2012, walking out to bat with Pietersen — who was on the way to his famous 149. In the latest extract in the serialisation of his new book, Cut Short, Taylor, who retired from the game two years ago because of a potentially fatal heart condition, writes: ‘I touched gloves with Kev. He didn’t give me much. “Enjoy it,” he told me. “Do your thing.”
‘A few days later I heard that, during the innings, he allegedly commented that I wasn’t going to be on the highlights that night. His low opinion of me extended into the dressing room. That same day, he apparently slagged me off to other players for not being good enough and batting too slow.’
Pietersen then indulged in what Taylor calls an ‘almighty whine’ during his end-of-play press conference, insisting it was ‘hard being me’ in the England dressing room because of a spoof Twitter account he believed was being operated with the support of team-mates.
Taylor writes: ‘That press conference should have been all about KP scoring one of the greatest knocks of all time. Instead it was all, “Look at me, feel sorry for me”.
‘It was just awful, exactly what England didn’t need. The state of our dressing room, as seen through one person’s eyes, had been broadcast to millions.’
Taylor, who played seven Tests and 27 one-day internationals, had already come across Pietersen in 2011, when he was invited to take part in an England net session with batting coach Graham Gooch. Taylor asked Pietersen how he was, but Pietersen allegedly replied: ‘What are you doing here?’
‘They say “never meet your heroes”, and if ever there was a classic case, KP was it,’ writes Taylor, 28. ‘I loved the way he played. One of my goals was to play alongside him. But on both occasions I came away thinking, “What a t***”. I found KP’s outburst embarrassing.’
When rumours spread about Pietersen’s alleged badmouthing of his new team-mate, Taylor decided to let it wash over him. ‘I couldn’t care less because I don’t respect him,’ he writes. ‘Kevin is a big fish and what came out of his mouth made about as much sense.’