Andy Flower or Kevin Pietersen - who stays?

[SpitfiresKent]

My thoughts exactly @War

Makes sense to leave your best player out of a major tournament

 

[kasabian21]

Utterly disgraceful. WTF are they playing at?

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Oh hang on he's completely out of the team, for good! Double

 

[War]

So not only does the ECB want to disgracefully take over world cricket alongside IND & AUS - they drop our best batsman.

I am getting so close to stop watching cricket forever, idiotic decisions everywhere!!

England Cricket News: Kevin Pietersen discarded by England | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[barmyarmy]

Worse than that. Not to be selected for England again.

Idiots.

 

[RobinHood]

Appalling, disgraceful decision. He won the T20 World Cup for is in 2010, and we don't have a hope in hell without him.

Hopefully he'll smash various county attacks to bits and force the selectors to pick him again.

Ravi Bopara, yay.

 

[Deleted member 11215]

What a disgrace, unfair how he's been forced out. Whole setup is a joke.

 

[Aalay]

Pietersen said: "I will continue to play but deeply regret that it won't be for England."

How the hell can you drop your best player?

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Did they even give a reason to drop him?

 

[MUFC1987]

Obviously it's a shame to lose a player of that ability, but I would say that we don't know the full story. All we see is the results on the pitch, if he's making life difficult for the rest of the team behind the scenes, then it shouldn't matter if it's Kevin Pietersen or some no hoper who is a one cap wonder. He's caused problems wherever he's been, so it's not like it would be out of character for him.

Sure, I'd much rather see him play, but the England team is bigger than just Kevin Pietersen.

I just hope some of the talented guys from County Cricket get a go at replacing him, rather than just the same old names.

 

[Dutch]

Boys in blazers win it again. Sad day for English cricket. We will continue to ruin our talent by making them boring and toe the "school-tie" line.

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Cook has gone down a few notches for me as well to be honest. Was excited about him becoming captain but he has lost the plot. Wonder how much Strauss was in the background as well around this...........

 

[blockerdave]

utterly disgusted. hung out to dry. awful decision but typical of what this england set up is.

 

[puddleduck]

Or Giles. He's basically presided over nothing but terrible results yet is the odds on favourite.

Cook meanwhile has done the same and has now played a part in ending the career of our only destructive test batsman.

Err he seemed.a weak captain on the field. He now seems weak off it too.

 

[blockerdave]

Or Giles. He's basically presided over nothing but terrible results yet is the odds on favourite.

Cook meanwhile has done the same and has now played a part in ending the career of our only destructive test batsman.

Err he seemed.a weak captain on the field. He now seems weak off it too.

Cook got the captaincy because he's weak, and wouldn't rock the boat. The idea he insisted on KP's "reintegration" was always tripe - it was flower's call because they felt kp gave them a better chance to win the ashes. with those gone now they just want to make him a scapegoat and keep away from the awful selection mistakes, and the disgraceful way saker ruined finn and then hung him out to dry as "unselectable".

selecting tremlett/finn/rankin and ignoring onions, taking jonathon trott when they were apparently aware of his problems, taking the coward Swann when he wasn't up for it... god forbid anyone shine a light on any of this. making KP the scapegoat creates a big story and keeps the spotlight off the selectors and Saker.

ironically, with the coward Swann out of the picture KP in the dressing would have been much less of a problem, since it was mainly Swann and his chums who had a problem with KP

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

at least when australia's batting fell into decline it wasn't really their fault. they eeked as many years as possible out of ponting and hussey.

england are acting like a dad with anger management issues that's just botched a DIY job and is now swing a hammer violently around the room, destroying everything.

trott's future is in doubt, there's no settled partner for cook, they've decided to stick and all-rounder in at 6 instead of a proper batsman and so they have decided to compliment all this by sacking their best batsman.

 

[ChinamanSpin]

Sometimes I'd turn on the TV just to watch Pietersen. I go to live cricket games really hoping to see him bat. One of the stupidest things the England management will ever do, but to be honest, it doesn't really surprise me any more. This is "Team England" at work. It's not about the fans any more.

What happens if KP gets 800 IPL runs whilst England toil in the groups or 1500 county championship runs as the golden boys Root, Bairstow and Bell or KP's replacement can barely muster up a run against India and Sri Lanka? People may say that we don't know what's gone on behind the scenes, but surely it can't warrant dropping your best player. Why can't the team director or captain sort the problems out? Isn't that why they are there?