Kevin Pietersen this week announced that he is standing down from the one day and twenty-twenty duty for England in order to focus on the longer from of the game.
At 31 the announcement has left many questioning just how it has come to this. Pietersen is the best batsmen England have in the one-day game by a clear mile. His relationship with the ECB has never been fantastic and it is entirely possible that it is that relationship which has in some part contributed to this decision.
There is no doubt that the workload on the modern cricketer is becoming excessive and the one-day game is a huge part of the extensive fixture list. Pietersen said that if it were possible he would have continued to represent England in the twenty-twenty format, but the policy of the selectors is that players cannot pick between the two one day formats in order to enhance consistency for the team.
The fact that Kevin Pietersen is still so young in cricketing terms makes this a hard decision to understand. The timing of this announcement has also displeased the powers that be with the Twenty-twenty World Cup in Sri Lanka just a few months away. Pietersen would have been a man that England would have been looking to build around as bringing in new untested players at this late stage, especially to play in the notoriously tough sub-continent is less than desirable.
Kevin Pietersen is a supreme talent and is a batsman that can destroy a bowling attack with his power and range of shots. Perhaps he hasn’t quite won as many one-day games for England as he should given his extraordinary ability. In the last twenty-twenty world cup however, Pietersen was man of the tournament as England lifted the trophy in the Caribbean. It is that kind of ability that transforms England from a talented batting line-up into one to be feared.
The importance of Pietersen makes his retirement all the more difficult to understand. Having had the captaincy taken off of him by the ECB for daring to challenge former England coach Peter Moores, Pietersen went back into the ranks as an ordinary player. His relationship has never been the best with the ECB and he was fined just a few weeks ago for comments he made on Twitter.
Pietersen has always been accused of arrogance and feeling he is more important that the team and this decision may further enhance that criticism. The timing is appalling and severely damages Englands chances in Sri Lanka later in the year. It is also to be assumed that Pietersen will continue to play in the highly lucrative IPL and so he is clearly not that worried about his work-load. All of this gives people lots of reason to question the South African born batsmens decision to quit the one day game.
Whatever the reasons for the retirement and whatever you think of Kevin Pietersen, it is a decision that will have massively negative implications for Englands one day setup and Pietersen cannot possibly justify that at this time.
