Kevin Pietersen is box office entertainment. From the moment
he strolled into the ODI series against South Africa back in early 2005,
Pietersen has demanded attention. Be it on the field, his immense natural
talent and audaciousness of shots has undoubtedly broadened the appeal of world
cricket, or off the field, his resignation from the England captaincy in 2008
was just one example of some poor misjudgements, he is unrivalled
entertainment. That England will no longer be able to exercise his talent in
the shorter format of the game is undoubtedly hugely disappointing. Hugh
Morris, CEO of the ECB, admitted as much today. Pietersen retires having scored
4184 runs at an average of nearly 42 in ODI cricket. These stats are impressive
enough, but when added to his strike rate, which at over 86 dwarfs his fellow
top order partners (Ian Bell’s is 73, Eoin Morgan’s is 83), the importance of
Pietersen becomes clear.
End of an Era: Pietersen will no longer be seen appearing in England's ODI kit. Photo: A.Joe
It seems clear that Pietersen stated a desire to continue to
play International T20 cricket, while giving up on the 50 over format; this
proposal was rebuffed by the England Management though who have a policy of
players appearing in both limited overs formats or none. The ECB’s stand is not
without reason – travel and preparation is expensive and having players picking
and choosing competitions at the end of test series is one sure fire way of
disrupting the set up and removing the continuity between the sides which has
been so important to England’s success in
recent years. But one cannot help
feeling a little frustrated that Pietersen has chosen this moment to call time
on his one day career, especially when England’s defence of the Twenty20 World
Cup in Sri Lanka is just 4 months away. Pietersen’s handling of the situation
has perhaps been poor; certainly there seems little reason why he could not
have waited until after the T20 World Cup to make a decision. It is especially
frustrating given Pietersen seemed to rediscover his ODI form this winter and
stated only as recently as February that he was focusing on the World Cup of
2015.
There are legitimate reasons why calling a time on his
one-day career is not quite as selfish as some have made out though. He may
still seem young and fresh, but Pietersen is approaching 32 and with the
demands of international cricket as they are (this was well documented in the
last post), he is perhaps right to consider a move to prolong his Test career.
Pietersen also has a young family, and he wouldn’t be the first man to feel the
need to be more selective over his commitments as a result.
Until we see what Pietersen plans to do with his new expanse
of time, it is hard to make a conclusive judgement on his decision. If he
merely spends his time maximising his commercial interests by playing Big Bash
and IPL cricket, further criticism will ensue. But he may use the opportunity
to properly recuperate from the game, and he could become a box office hit at
The Oval if he turns out for Surrey in this year’s T20 competition. Time will
surely tell. Regardless, Pietersen has no end of options, and first impressions
point to it being more England’s loss than Pietersen’s. Nevertheless, it is a
shame Pietersen could not have waited until October; defending the T20 World
Cup would have been an excellent point to bow out. Instead, he has divided
opinion once again, and sadly it is not his cricket, but his off the field
decision making which is set to do the talking.
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