-England v South Africa: Test, ODI and T20I series-
- Thread starter TheCenturion
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I think he's finished as far as England are concerned.
I was chatting in the week before all this came out and basically I said he seems to want everything on his own terms, not only the picking and choosing games at one-day level but going back to the "him or me" ultimatum he gave when he was captain.
The ECB has actually handled him correctly IMO, nobody is bigger than the team, England have won games without him in the past and they will win games without him in the future.
When he was at Hampshire his turnout was very poor, now to be fair central contracts plays a big part in that, but generally round here people were never fully convinced about his commitment in the final couple of years.
I was chatting in the week before all this came out and basically I said he seems to want everything on his own terms, not only the picking and choosing games at one-day level but going back to the "him or me" ultimatum he gave when he was captain.
The ECB has actually handled him correctly IMO, nobody is bigger than the team, England have won games without him in the past and they will win games without him in the future.
When he was at Hampshire his turnout was very poor, now to be fair central contracts plays a big part in that, but generally round here people were never fully convinced about his commitment in the final couple of years.
Soldato
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Indeed. Apparently the "video" he did was against his contract so I'm guessing that he or his management decided that he was available for all games before the ECB announced he was dropped for Lord's.
What I'd like to know is who, or what, made KP decide to reverse his OD retirement and commit to Test cricket? Perhaps he thought that in doing so he'd be able to get some of his demands met by the ECB? For such a talented player he really is hard work. I think it's quite amusingly ironic that the fake KP Twitter account that his team mates enjoyed reading because it was quite accurate made him think he had a right to cause problems in the dressing room because of it. Plus all the England players have said that as some of the tweets were sent whilst England were actually fielding it couldn't possibly have been any of them could it?
Nope. The SA team and the two players said to have received the texts are saying, supposedly, that they consider the texts private and won't release them because they don't want to cause a media storm and be seen to be using the texts to destabilise England on their way to replacing us at the top of the Test table.
South Africa must be loving this latest KP episode. On the field they hate him because he defected to England and has played a large part in England's fortunes in the last few years. Now though he's acting like a trojan in the England camp, destabilising it, possibly, to the potential benefit of South Africa.
Soldato
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One thing I found incredible in KP's video is the suggestion that he's going to be a part of the upcoming ODI series - really? Who are they going to drop then? Bell? Bopara? Morgan? Don't think so! It was also interesting the word sorry never appeared in the video.
That said, I'm not impressed with the ECB's handling of this. If it's really just about some text messages then it's pathetic!
That said, I'm not impressed with the ECB's handling of this. If it's really just about some text messages then it's pathetic!
Soldato
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Yup. Why would they change a team that has suddenly started working well. It's not the finished product yet but they've had two very good series. Incidentally both after KP quit OD cricket!
I can't see why the ECB would change such a promising team just because KP is back.I think it depends on the contents of the texts. If he's stabbing Strauss and Flower in the back DURING a test then the ECB can claim that his attention isn't on the game and it's quite unprofessional and not conduct becoming of a TEAM player.
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Good on the ECB. He's England's best batsman, but a mug as well.
That said, I'm going to day 3, 4 and 5 at Lord's so a little annoyed that he's not playing too
That said, I'm going to day 3, 4 and 5 at Lord's so a little annoyed that he's not playing too
I disagree. That would not only be a breach of contract but more importantly a breach of trust.
He seems determined to try and create a position as an international play on demand plater. National teams will never accept that - he isn't that good and indeed there's nobody that is that good - someone who is bigger than the rest of the team combined.
I like KP as a player - he's extremely talented and equally frustrating, but he makes a difference and excites an audience with his ability to change a game. But equally he's always been clear about what he wants from the game - that's a career and financial reward. The switch from South Africa to England was the first sign of that, and fair play to him. I just think he's acted poorly in recent times and made some decisions that he would probably have made differently given the benefit of hindsight.
He won't be the last example of players wanting more though as cricket catches up with some other bigger financial sports.
Hopefully this will teach this muppet a lesson. A great batsman but it the shine is taken off it all by him being a complete tool. Good on the ECB - sending texts to the Saffers isn't good. Interesting that Prior phoned him up and asked why he "had barely conversed with the England team for months".
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South Africa win the toss. Bat first.
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Appalling. Disgraceful. Made even worse by the fact it's Jaques Kallis. If it was out, he would have walked.
Very dodgy decision but regardless of that, the conditions are horrible for batting and amazing for bowling.
I was howling/oohing like **** at that last delivery before lunch; crazy!
You think? doesn't look any more difficult then in the second test, England though look completely rejuvenated.
Amazing what a difference removing a bad apple can have
I didn't see a great deal of the second test, was there a lot of movement in that match then?
England pretty much always look good when the ball is swinging, I guess it's because the bowlers are great at exploiting swing in these conditions.
The decision against Kallis was extremely poor. He wasn't even touching the bat, and even then it hardly looked like the ball made contact with the glove either.
Very poor decision from the third umpire. No wonder Kallis didn't look happy.
Very poor decision from the third umpire. No wonder Kallis didn't look happy.