Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

[Tubby Isaacs]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

Sure there's tax money going to Cardiff to win the bid, but that doesn't mean the ECB shouldn't accept it. Cricket is pretty heavily subsidised by tax/lottery anyway. But your other points about this are good, I think.

This is Pietersen's third big fall out of his career- with SA, with Notts, now with England. He then goes scrambling around for some principle to hand, however tasteless that might be in the case of quotas. Now it looks like something about captain's power. God knows what Notts were guilty of.

I thought Strauss was an OK candidate before, as well.

[Etienne]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

The main reason that an Ashes test shouldn't be going to Cardiff is that it gets even more rain than Old Trafford and the odds are the ECB won't get much revenue out of it.

The pitch is better than it used to be, to be fair.

[ursus arctos]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

Agnew mentioned yesterday that he also left behind enemies at both KwaZulu and his Australian team, so it seems that betting on a bust up of this sort may be one of the few sure things left in contemporary cricket.

At the same time, the fact that KP is an ill-advised and self-centred prick should not in any way absolve the ECB of yet another breathtakingly shambolic performance. They were, after all, the ones who made him captain in the first place.

Cricket books (Anyone but England, Gideon Haigh's collection of pieces and Bodyline Autopsy, among others) have had a disproportionate weight in my winter reading, and the historical continuity of the remarkable combination of reactionary politics, antediluvian social attitudes, sheer bloodymindedness and flat out incompetence that has characterised the "leaders" of the game in England for literally centuries is absoultely remarkable.

I always thought that the "Lords of Baseball" and Havelange and Blatter's FIFA represented the nadir of contemporary sports administration, but they really can't compete with the "tradition" these guys seem hell-bent on preserving.

[Jon]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

Strauss is 33 to 1 to win Sports Personality of the Year at the moment. You gots to back value.

Edit: Just found him at 50 to 1 on Ladbrokes. William Hill have wised up and got him at 20 to 1.

[Etienne]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

Surely even if England win the Ashes, it's not going to be Strauss that claims the glory. He's effective enough at the moment, but he makes Tavare look like a dasher. If Flintoff has a good series, he'll win it, if he doesn't and Pietersen does the Pietersen will win it. If neither do, then we won't be winning the Ashes.

What are the odds on Ian Bell?

[The Purple Cow]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

Reverse swing won us the 2005 Ashes. The Kookaburra ball doesn't reverse, so Aussie bowlers had no experience of bowling it, and their batsmen had little experience batting against it.

So that's why the health and form of Simon Jones is way more important than K.P. or Strauss.

[Guest]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

And, of course, it was the refusal of the selectors to consider S Jones and instead lumber Vaughan with Pattinson that was the final straw for his captaincy and lead to his resignation.

Reading Trescothick's (ghosted) book and it's pretty clear that he also had no time for Moores. In particular, when Tresco was trying to get back into the team & deal with his various health issues, he made himself available for the 20/20 tournament in SA, only to be told by Moores that he could go only if he guaranteed his availability for the subsequent tour of Sri Lanka. Of course, Tresco couldn't do this, and thus his retirement was effectively sealed.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

That's a shocking piece of man management by Moores. From personal experience I know that anxiety/depression makes the whole of time lie before you in an overwhelming way, and that it's very hard to split it into manageable chunks. The 20-20 was a readymade manageable chunk, and enough of a one-off that "picking and choosing" wouldn't have been detrimental to long term development of the squad. Did Moores think Tresco was missing Sri Lanka to appear in panto or Question of Sport?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

I don't think Jones is that important now. We won't catch Australia cold with reverse swing. Anyway, Anderson can do it, as can Flintoff. But I'd like Jones in contention, certainly.

[Guest]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

S Jones, if fit, would be my first choice bowler; Anderson still isn't reliable enough, and never comes across as more than a poor man's alternative. Certainly, a four-man pace attack of Flintoff, Harmison, S Jones, and Sidebottom wouldn't be too far off the mark. Of course, that would rely on Harmison not bowling dross, Sidebottom being fit and still in contention, S Jones getting fit, and Flintoff remaining fit... Still, add in a one-dimensional spinner (Monty) and you've almost a carbon-copy of the time before last.

[Etienne]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

S Jones bowling like he did in the third and fourth tests of 2005 would be first choice. Of course he's never bowled so well before or since.

[Jon]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

Surely even if England win the Ashes, it's not going to be Strauss that claims the glory. He's effective enough at the moment, but he makes Tavare look like a dasher. If Flintoff has a good series, he'll win it, if he doesn't and Pietersen does the Pietersen will win it. If neither do, then we won't be winning the Ashes.

Yeah you're probably right, Etienne. It'll be Flintoff or KP even if Strauss does become an inspired choice as captain. But the way Andy Murray is playing he'll probably walk it.

What are the odds on Ian Bell?

66 to 1.

[Guest]

Pietersen out for 5 and a bit

Given KP's NotW column, which will have been vetted by the ECB, may I just reiterate that the ECB, the management team, and - in particular - Hugh Morris, are fucking clueless cunts.