Kevin Pietersen claims senior figures at the England and Wales Cricket Board “let themselves down” last year by removing him from the senior side in the name of dressing-room harmony.
The former England batsman saw his central contract cancelled in February 2014 in the wake of the 5-0 Ashes whitewash, with an uncredited ECB statement at the time claiming the board must “invest in our captain Alastair Cook” and create “a culture in which we can be confident he will have the full support of all players”.
But Pietersen believes the ECB chairman Giles Clarke, who will be replaced by Colin Graves in May, made a mistake in believing sporting success required team-mates to be friends.
“The previous board let themselves down, saying they just need good blokes in the dressing-room,” he told Fox Sports in Australia, for whom he is set to commentate during the knockout stages of the ongoing World Cup.
“Whereas I know teams around the world at the moment, there’s blokes who can’t stand each other. I know the greatest Australian side, there were blokes in it who couldn’t stand each other. But when you go over the line you perform and you do the business because that’s your job.”
Pietersen wants the current England set-up to copy Australia and, in particular, the transformation made since Darren Lehmann replaced Mickey Arthur as head coach just 16 days before the start of 2013 Ashes series.
“They need to get a much more relaxed atmosphere,” he explained. “What you need to do – and I think you need to really get this in sporting teams now, which I think Boof [Lehmann] has done – is create a family home atmosphere in that little bubble, so when you go into that bubble, you love that bubble, and you want to be in that bubble – and it’s the most relaxed, no-pressure environment.”
Pietersen is waiting on permission to cancel an upcoming spell at Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League to sign for an English county and insists, despite turning 35 this summer, he can still perform in international cricket in the unlikely event of domestic runs forcing the hands of the selectors to recall him.
“I had my issues with an ex-coach [Andy Flower], with the board members or the top of the board, but they don’t have anything to do with the actual team and my buddies,” he added.
“I don’t think my best days are behind me. I thought I batted as well as I’ve ever batted in my career in Australia a few months ago [in the Big Bash League]. I think that’s nonsense, I reckon I’ve still got quite a few Test hundreds in me.”
