Critics move in on Strauss
ANDREW STRAUSS was last ni g ht accused of turning English cricket into a ‘ laughing stock’ after claiming Kevin Pietersen’s comeback hopes had been scuppered by a mutual lack of trust.
On the day Pietersen finished with an unbeaten 355 for Surrey against Leicestershire at The Oval, Strauss — formally unveiled at Lord’s as the new director of England cricket — insisted: ‘We’re in a position now where there’s a massive trust issue between him and the ECB.’
Strauss, who with chief execu- tive Tom Harrison met Pietersen on Monday night at a hotel near his Wentworth home, said: ‘I told him we had no plans for him to play for England this summer, and could make no guarantees going forward.
‘No team environment can be sustained with a lack of trust. It’s a two-way process. I’m not apportioning any blame.’
Asked to elaborate, Strauss replied: ‘There have been a number of issues over the years. Is there any point dragging up the dirty laundry?’
But Alec Stewart, Pietersen’s director of cricket at Surrey, was unimpressed. ‘He probably feels a little bit let down after Colin Graves said: “If you play county cricket, if you score runs, the slate’s been wiped clean, you will be considered.”
‘He’s given up a contract to play in the IPL, he’s done what’s been asked of him and now the door has been shut. He’s given up a quarter of a million pounds on the back of Graves’ comments. That word trust may be a two-way thing.’
Whatever the ‘trust issue’ was, it did not stop Strauss offering Pietersen a role as an adviser to England’s one- day team — an offer that is said to have been met with derision.