English cricket needs someone who can control Kevin Pietersen because they certainly need him back.
Pietersen scored 170 for Surrey in a three-day match against MCC University Oxford over the weekend and is trying to get back into the England team.
I thought it was ridiculous how his international career ended. I don’t believe Pietersen is uncontrollable. Lots of teams have difficult players, but they make it work. Especially if it’s one of your best players.
Pietersen is 34, but he’s quite fit and I think he can play at the highest level for another 3-5 years. They need someone to control him. There weren’t any major issues with Pietersen when Michael Vaughan was the captain. The problems seem to have started when Andrew Strauss took over after Vaughan’s retirement.
There are ways and means of handling players like Pietersen to make it work. English cricket’s performances on the field have been badly affected since they ousted him and they need to correct it.
Obviously the things he said in his autobiography doesn’t help the situation. There are things that were said but they need to apologise to each other, move on and start again.
When Pietersen is on form it rubs off on the other players in the team which is a good thing.
There has been a lot of talk about who will replace Paul Downton, the previous managing director who was fired last week. Vaughan and Strauss have been talked about for a new director of English cricket role, but I think Vaughan and Strauss are pretty old school guys.
The ECB have limited options in this regard, but for me the bigger issue is the coach Peter Moores. I don’t think he is the right guy to take England forward. He is a work horse, but they need someone with authority and flair who’s well respected.
Sometimes coaches have too much say, which I think has been the problem for England. One of the coaches at the IPL recently said that the players who are out in the middle actually know more than the coaches and it’s true. The captain should be in control and make the decisions. That’s how it worked in the 60’s and 70’s.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how England fare on their tour to the West Indies. I think Alastair Cook is the right guy to captain the Test side, but Eoin Morgan being named ODI captain before the World Cup was a surprising call for me.
Being captain affected his batting, but nobody else really stands out as a candidate for the captaincy.
It’s important for world cricket that England do well. England is the home of cricket and the game is supported well over there.
