Cricket is a funny sport. It's a team game but played by individuals. An individual might be dropped for a lesser player for the sake of the team balance. Graham Onions was the top wicket taker in the County Championship but instead the ECB decided to send players on tour with worse records.
It's hard to see how one person's behaviour could affect the batting performance of all others. Unless Kevin Pietersen was spiking Alastair Cook's drink or threatening Ian Bell if he did not hit Steve Smith to mid-on, then it's unlikely he is to blame for England's Ashes drubbing.
But it can't be coincidence that after every major English defeat there is talk about Pietersen being a disruptive influence. The information coming through the media might be wrong, but if there was nothing going on then there would be no story. Clearly, the England management are fed up with Pietersen and have decided that now is the time to make a clean break.
That's fair enough. As Ed Smith pointed out, captain Alastair Cook, limited overs coach Ashley Giles (who needs good results) and the new managing director Paul Downton have decided they don't want Pietersen in the set-up. These are people who will be out of a job if England keep losing, so to discard arguably their best batsman can only have come about if there was a strong case for his removal.
Their mistake is allowing legal issues to prevent them from stating what these reasons are. It seems incredibly bizarre that a player can be dropped but no-one knows why. It wouldn't happen in any other sport.
Some will say that Pietersen has been made a scapegoat, but when you have a history as a disruptive figure then you need to keep justifying your place with runs. The reason Cook can keep his place after two bad series is because he doesn't seem to cause problems. When you're a player who has seen a coach let-go because of you and who was dropped for sending provocative texts, then you have to prove you are worth the hassle. Taking into account recent injury problems, a desire to cash in on Twenty20 cricket and few runs in home and away Ashes, then suddenly you are vulnerable.
Whatever the reason for his removal, it's only fair to thank Pietersen for his international career. The stats say it was very good, but they don't tell the whole story - one of outlandish innings and a talent which was never completely fulfilled. A player who can whack Shane Warne and Dale Steyn (this stats article is excellent in its detail http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/716969.html) should have scored more runs and averaged comfortably over 50. Pietersen may have a top-10 of centuries to rival any other batsman in history, but for each 186 in the dustbowl of Mumbai, there were five horrible dismissals. As Geoffrey Boycott said, how can you teach the young players how to play when they see their senior batsman play a daft shot then shrug it off?
Flower nipped in the bud
On reflection, it's right that Andy Flower is no longer England's head coach. If politics has taught us anything it's that there is a shelf-life for each method. It's for that reason I was so confident that the left-wing Ed Miliband would become Labour leader, coming on the back of New Labour (which admittedly he was part of). The Conservatives saw failure in their right-wing leaders and opted for the moderniser David Cameron. The country gets fed up of one-set of policies than craves a completely different approach.
In football, England realised Steve McClaren was too pally, so they went for the disciplinarian Fabio Capello who turned out to be too hard-line.
The same thing happened to Australia: Micky Arthur was strangling the life out of the team, but the fun Darren Lehmann has allowed for greater enjoyment and better results. Clearly, Flower's methods had gone on for too long. England's batsmen struggled against New Zealand and Australia, often crawling along at two runs an over. For whatever reason, the life had been strangled from them apart from them for the most part and they were sitting targets for a hungry Australian attack. Proof came with the emergence of Ben Stokes who was new to the set-up and batted with a freedom which none of his team-mates could muster.
Now, it's time for England to usher in a more relaxed approach and allow a new team to emerge from the wreckage without fear of failure.
My team for the summer
With two limited overs World Cups in the space of 12 months, the Test side can use this chance to re-build for the future. This is the squad of players who should be featuring regularly this summer:
Openers - Alastair Cook, Michael Carberry
Middle order - Ian Bell, Sam Robson, Gary Ballance, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes
Wicket-keeper - Matt Prior, Jos Buttler
Seam bowlers - James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graham Onions and hopefully Steven Finn
Spinner - Simon Kerrigan
Young players like Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Scott Borthwick should get themselves ready in county cricket. Fast-tracking players in very rarely works.
ODI team
1. Cook
2. Bell
3. Stokes
4. Morgan
5. Ballance
6. Buttler
7. Bopara
8. Borthwick
9. Woakes/Bresnan
10. Jordan
11. Broad
12. Hales
Twenty20 team
1. Hales
2. Lumb
3. Wright
4. Morgan
5. Buttler
6. Bopara
7. Patel (should have been picked. Maybe Moeen now)
8. Woakes
9. Borthwick
10. Jordan
11. Broad
mas futbol por favor
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