The England cricket Captain Kevin Pietersen has resigned (jumped before he was pushed) and the coach Peter Moores has been sacked. The England Cricket Board (ECB) now has the tough task of repairing a fractured and dysfunctional national team.
The whole sorry saga started because Kevin Pietersen did not agree with the direction Peter Moores, the incumbent coach when he was appointed, was taking. I always questioned the thinking behind Pietersen's appointment. I didn't care that he is a born and bred South African but I did care that he seemed always to be the sort of individual that was one of the team's 'star' players. Arrogant, focussed, a risk taker - he was a great player who could be relied upon for his genius batting and star performances that could rescue an innings and lift the team's morale. However I didn't have him down as someone who was a leader of men, a strategist or a team player. We have seen great cricketers like Pietersen before who were never made captain because their temperament just didn't suit the role - take Botham and Boycott for example.
In the end his petulant temperament - his "it's him or me" stance - brought his downfall. He even involved the outside media telling them that his relationship with Moores was 'strained'. This all it just illustrates to me that in sport and in business it doesn't matter how brilliant your star performer is you cannot succumb to such foot-stamping, petulant ultuimatums. No one is indispensible and Pietersen's behaviour won him no friends on the England team by all accounts. All he did was divide it. The ECB did well to issue him with the 'jump or be pushed' ultimatum.
While I wholeheartedly support the ECB's handling of this situation I do wonder why they sacked Peter Moores. Maybe they just felt he had been too compromised or maybe the disastrous England record of late was all they needed. I knew Peter quite well over 20 years ago when he was the wicketkeeper for Sussex. He is a very nice, thoughtful, intelligent and well rounded man. He has behaved through all of this with dignity and has kept a very low profile while Pietersen attracts all the cameras and headlines. I think in the long run this mature approach to what is undoubtedly a very stressful situation will see him rewarded in spades. I hope we see him commentating or writing for a newspaper in time as he has excellent knowledge, understanding and experience.
As for Kevin Pietersen well I think he has a lot to do - he has a pretty big task ahead of him if he wants to fit into the general rank and file of the England team...or will he, as some have mooted... go to more financially rewarding climes and forsake his team and country. Oh i forgot...its not really his team...or his country...after all.
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