ECB rile counties over KP chaos
THERE is considerable upset among the chairmen of English cricket’s first-class counties at the way the hapless ECB continue to bungle the Kevin Pietersen issue.
And this concern is expected to lead to a stormy meeting when the 18 counties convene at Lord’s tomorrow after the ECB’s AGM.
The decision to sideline Pietersen this summer was made by new England cricket director Andrew Strauss, ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, and incoming and outgoing chairmen Colin Graves and Giles Clarke.
But there is a strong feeling among the county chiefs that the 14- strong ECB board should have been involved on a subject of such magnitude. One described the anger at the lack of consultation over Pietersen as ‘ colossal’ and said questions will be asked tomorrow.
The counties will want explanations for the Pietersen decision-making process, the inept handling of England head coach Peter Moores’s sacking and why a tweet from BBC Test Match Special on Monday night was the first they knew about KP’s fate.
Harrison said yesterday: ‘ We’re not carving people out for the sake of it. Those involved were 100 per cent aligned on this decision. This is not one that requires person-to-person contact with the board.’
THE BAFTA audience for their awards night don’t know how fortunate they were. Among the trophy acceptance party for brilliant Single Drama winner Marvellous — depicting the life of former Stoke City kitman Neil Baldwin — was Football Supporters’ Federation chairman Malcolm Clarke, who makes long, boring speeches at FA Council meetings at every conceivable opportunity. Thankfully, host Graham Norton (above) didn’t hand Malcolm the mic at London’s Theatre Royal. IT COULD have been a lot worse for Andrew Strauss, who had to face up at Lord’s to media not satisfied that those ‘massive trust issues’ between the ECB and banished triple centurion Kevin Pietersen have still not been explained.
At least Strauss’s ECB duties meant he had a good excuse for swerving an engagement for lunch with other members of the judging committee for the British Sports Books awards, whose number include loveable former England rugby hooker Brian Moore.
Meanwhile, it was apt the gaffe-prone ECB staged the press conference with Strauss and Tom Harrison in the Writing Room of the Lord’s pavilion, where a flood in the dressing rooms above once caused the ceiling to cave in.
HELEN GRANT can count herself unlucky to have lost the Minister for Sport role in which she was just starting to make an impression before the General Election. Her successor is Tracey Crouch, who is a qualified FA coach and manages a youth football team. Nevertheless, Tottenham fan Crouch should steer clear of participating in sports quizzes, which was the early undoing of Grant.