The ECB knew KP’s book was coming for six months. It was there, lurking in the background like an agitated troll, throughout the entire summer. They must have known it would be explosive so why, given they had months to prepare, has their response been so clumsy? Whether you love Kevin Pietersen or loathe him – and as someone who regularly tore his hair out watching KP throw his wicket away (apparently it’s the number one cause of baldness amongst England cricket fans) I’m somewhere in the...
It doesn’t take a genius…
“The ECB wanted to investigate. First they wanted my phone. They said they wanted to take it to a top forensic investigation firm that would download all the software off my phone and search keywords and try to find out if there was anything said since the start of the summer about any of the players and staff”. This, according to Kevin Pietersen in his autobiography, was how the ECB sought to investigate claims that he had sent derogatory BlackBerry messages about his team-mates to...
Exclusive video footage of the ECB-Pietersen disciplinary hearing
This is also worth a watch.
In other news, Jonathan Agnew quits Twitter after row with Jessica Taylor about Twitter passwords.
Haven’t we been here before?
The dossier fallout continues
First off, I’d like to invite you to read the excellent review of Pietersen’s book by our contributor Tregaskis, which we published last night. We are very grateful to him for sourcing a review copy and putting the time aside to write this fine piece. But to the dossier, which we first analysed here, and some of you have also discussed here. The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Hayward nails it: If this "dossier" is all the ECB have, anyone who briefed that Pietersen was...
There really was no smoking gun
The dossier is the final straw. The ECB stands exposed as the most conniving, corrupt, mendacious, vindictive, and downright stupid organisation in Britain. They have surrendered any final remnant of authority – moral or practical – to govern a major national sport, and need to be held to account. Giles Clarke and Paul Downton must resign immediately. Third party authorities – the DCMS, say – should investigate the board’s conduct and practices. They are unfit for...
The story so far
Things moved so fast on Monday that it’s been difficult to keep up.On Tuesday morning, Pietersen is due to give a series of TV interviews – and yet more new lines may emerge. Our contributor Tregaskis is, as I speak, working his way through the book in detail, and we will publish his thoughts very soon. Hundreds of questions arise from what we’ve learned today. For many of them, I’d like to read the book first hand before commenting in detail. But here are a few early...
