No way back for outcast Pietersen
Strauss says the time has come to move on
IF Andrew Strauss becomes England’s new supremo, then it would appear the comeback hopes of Kevin Pietersen, which gained momentum with the sacking of Paul Downton, would come to an abrupt halt.
Strauss said yesterday that he can see no way back for the man he fell out with so badly over the Blackberry messages Pietersen sent to South African opponents, apparently criticising his then captain, three years ago.
Pietersen today begins his county comeback with Surrey against Oxford University in The Parks having been encouraged to return to the domestic game by ECB chairman-elect Colin Graves and then emboldened by the demise of the man who sacked him as an England player last year in Downton.
Yet if Strauss, who on Friday threw his hat into the ring for the new England post of director of cricket, has his way then the chances of Pietersen making an extraordinary England comeback would seemingly fade.
‘It’s very important for English cricket to move on from the Kevin Pietersen situation,’ said Strauss, who infamously called Pietersen ‘a complete c***’ on air while commentating for Sky last season, when he thought his microphone had been switched off. ‘That threatens to envelop everything at the moment.
‘The story has become more of a distraction than him actually playing. The ECB and the England team’s efforts to move on from him haven’t worked so far, but by winning that will allow them to move forward.’
Strauss’s views are as much from a cricketing point of view as a personal one, even though his feelings towards Pietersen clearly have not changed.
‘If you look at it from pure cricketing logic, after the Ashes is over, it’s quite hard to see a situation where Kevin would come back into the side,’ said Strauss while talking to Wisden editor and Sportsmail cricket writer Lawrence Booth on the Lord’s podcast. ‘You’re building towards the next Ashes in two-and-a-half years time, as well as the World Cup in 2019.
‘I think if you were to bring Kevin back, it would be a short-term measure to help you win the Ashes. I can’t see that happening because there are too many bridges to build in too short a period of time.’
Michael Vaughan remains the hot favourite to pip Strauss for a role that increasingly looks like providing the director of cricket with powers not enjoyed by anyone in English cricket since Ray Illingworth in the 90s.
Graves and new ECB chief executive Tom Harrison want to completely overhaul the system and make the new man virtually the equivalent of a football manager, more than a managing director in Downton who was also responsible for the England women’s team and the Loughborough Performance Centre.
That means the director of cricket will probably be a hands-on presence in the dressing room with overall responsibility for coaching and selection, with the panel of selectors currently in place almost certainly being disbanded.