KP Back With Daredevils

Kevin Pietersen was bought for the underwhelming (in comparison to expectations) amount of £880,000 in the IPL auction by the Delhi Daredevils who let him go when last season ended because of commitments they presumed he would have playing for England.

KP was the third highest purchase on the first day of the auction and only England player. The likes of Bell, Bopara and Dernbach still to be sold to the highest bidder - but ties to England means their IPL season will be cut short to May 13th.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore bought India's Yuvraj Singh for £1.37m whilst Australia's Mitchell Johnson went for £640,000 by Kings XI Punjab.


Ball on Willow.

KP Signs With Surrey

Kevin Pietersen has signed a new contract with Surrey this week. He said he was "absolutely delighted to have agreed terms with Surrey and am thoroughly looking forward to playing my cricket for the club this summer. I've had some of my best moments in cricket at the Kia Oval and I'm really excited at the prospect of getting back out there playing in what will hopefully be a brilliant summer for us all at Surrey." 

KP will represent the Surrey lions in the Twenty20 Blast form of the game with the possibility of him appearing in first-class matches and 50-over games.

Pietersen has shown the world he just wants to play cricket - when and where he can - as Alec Stewart confirms; "He's playing for the right reasons, in that he wanted to play for Surrey, and he made that very, very clear. We've got a great player, a world-class player, and this is not just a great deal for Surrey but great for the domestic game as well. It will give the Twenty20 Blast a great lift-off, and if he plays in the other forms of the game then it adds to the profile of our four-day and 50-over cricket."

The ECB put out this first statement a week ago effectively ending the chances of KP ever wearing three lions across his chest again on a cricket pitch; "Kevin Pietersen has been informed by the England and Wales Cricket Board that he has not been included in the England squads for the forthcoming tour of the Caribbean later this month nor the ICC World Twenty20 to be held in Bangladesh in March.

Kevin Pietersen met with Paul Downton, the Managing Director England Cricket, this week and was told that the unanimous decision of the England management, including the selectors, was that now was the time to start the rebuilding process after England's disappointing winter in Australia."

However, this has left KP available for the entire IPL season this year. 

Former IPL chief Latif Modi said Pietersen could go "upwards of £2.5m to £3m" with each franchise capped at spending less than £6m. 

Head of cricket operations for kings XI Punjab, Anant Sarkaria said "he is such an awesome player. A lot of teams would be looking for Pietersen and we are one of them. The availability of English players for the whole duration of the IPL has always been a problem for most of the franchises. Pietersen's retirement changes the dynamics of the auction."

Hard to understand why the ECB would let go of such an influential player, but their loss is the IPL's gain. 

Ball on Willow. 

Kevin Pietersen: Explained (sort of)

The ECB have gone some way to explain their reasoning behind KP's unexpected dismissal. 

From the little bites of information they have fed the public with, many are drawing their own conclusions - most leading back to captain Alastair Cook. 

Fans have been in uproar over the past week as the ECB had left almost all questions surround Pietersen's departure unanswered. They had done, until last night. 

The ECB put out the following statement:

"It has been a matter of great frustration that until now the England and Wales Cricket Board has been unable to respond to the unwarranted and unpleasant criticism of England players and the ECB itself, which has provided an unwelcome backdrop to the recent negotiations to release Kevin Pietersen from his central contract. 

Those negotiations have been successfully concluded and whilst both parties remain bound by confidentiality provisions the ECB would like to make the following comments; The ECB recognises the significant contribution Kevin has made to England teams over the last decade. He has played some of the finest innings ever produced by an England batsman. 

However, the England team needs to rebuild after the whitewash in Australia. To do that we must invest in our captain Alaistair Cook and we must support him in creating a culture in which can be confident he will have the full support of all players, with everyone pulling in the same direction and able to trust each other.

It is for those reasons that we have decided to move on without Kevin Pietersen."

Dodging directly saying anything, for reasons earlier in the week said to be "legal" ones, the governing body have basically hinted at Pietersen's past transgressions being a ruling factor, with captain Cook's inability to trust him ultimately leading to his dismissal. 

Pietersen will no doubt cloud England's immediately future, especially if England continue to underperform. 

But what I'm more interested in is Pietersen's next move. He has now become a very lucrative commodity, set to make millions playing in the T20 form of the game. I am crossing my fingers for Pietersen to bat his heart out over the next year and show England just what they gave up just because they felt they were unable to put a stopper in the whirlwind that is Kevin Pietersen.

Ball on Willow. 

Tendulkar vs. Warne

The recently retired cricketing royalty that is Sachin Tendulkar will be appearing at Lord's this summer to celebrate the ground's 200th birthday. The ex-India international cricketer will captain the Marylebone Cricket Club in a 50-over match at Lord's. His side will be up against ex-Australia bowler Shane Warne and the Rest of the World side. 

The Home of Cricket will host the bicentenary celebrations on July 5th with this being Tendulkar's second time at such an event - last time honouring Princess Diana in 1998. He spoke about his return to the English ground, saying: "It is an honour to be asked to captain MCC in such a prestigious fixture. Lord's is such a special place to play cricket and I am very much looking forward to help celebrate its bicentenary by taking part in this match."

Warne will be quietly confident though, having previously taking 19 wickets in four tests he played at the ground. He said; "I always enjoy playing at Lord's and as an Honorary Life Member of MCC I'm really excited about coming back...[to] the most famous cricket ground in the world."

The MCC will be overseen by president Mike Gatting and Rahul Dravid - Tendulkar's former India international team-mate. Shaun Pollock, ex-South Africa captain, will be taking charge where the Rest of the World team is concerned. 

I'm not at all biased when I say C'MON MCC, I'll see you there!

Ball on Willow. 

KP Gets The Axe

Days into his new job position (officially), Paul Downton had to make a decision that would change the dynamics of our England squad as we know it today, that could take out possibly the best batsman England have ever had. 

The ECB managing director has already had to deal with Andy Flower's decision to step down from his post as technical director - something that was out of his control.

Kevin Pietersen is something he can control. Or maybe he decided that he couldn't and that is why he gave him the axe earlier this evening.

Downton spoke out about his decision some May find controversial; "The time is right to rebuild not only the team but also the team ethic."

England's MD clearly referring to several scandals that KP has been at the heart of.

His public fallout with, England coach at the time, Peter Moores that led to both men stepping down from their roles - which for Pietersen meant leaving his short-lived ODI captaincy, lasting all of 39 days. 

It was clear to many that the dressing room was split on who they sided with, creating the first cracks in a united England squad and signs of strain in the dressing room. Alec Stewart said, "it's very difficult to go back into a dressing room when you know you haven't got the full backing of everyone in there."

Next was the texting scandal with the South Africans mid-series. As the media plastered the story across front covers of newspapers for weeks, Strauss commented saying, "how things have worked out over the last couple of weeks hasn't been ideal for anybody" as Pietersen was dropped in the summer of 2012 from the England squad because of his refusal to clarify the situation regarding these texts - rumoured to have been defamatory towards both Strauss and Flower. 

In October 2012, ECB spoke of KP's possible return to the England squad after Pietersen held a press conference saying, "we have drawn a line under it and it is time to move forward."

He was controversially included in the test squad that successfully toured India, under Cook's watch, scoring a test century and two fifties. 

Paul Downton did, however, sing his praises and wish him the best for his future in cricket, "Clearly this was a tough decision because Kevin has been such an outstanding player for England, as the fact that he is the country's leading run-scorer in international cricket demonstrates.

England cricket owes a debt of gratitude to Kevin, who has proved to be one of the most talented and exciting players to ever represent the country and his 13,797 runs are a testimony to his immense skill. This decision brings some clarity now for the future of the England teams and we all wish Kevin the very best in the rest of his career."

Kevin Pietersen spoke his piece regarding what looks to be his removal from the England squad. "I will continue to play but deeply regret that it won't be for England. Playing cricket for my country has been an honour, every time I pulled on the England shirt was a moment of huge pride for me and that is something that will live with me forever. 

Although I am obviously very sad the incredible journey has come to an end, I'm also hugely proud of what we, as a team, have achieved over the past nine years. I believe I have a great deal still to give as a cricketer."

But Pietersen did have several high points of his career. He was given player of the series in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 for his efforts with the bat after he scored 47 off 31 in a partnership with Kieswetter of 111 in the final against Australia - among other high scores that helped England get there. 

But we all know Pietersen had one true low point in his England cricket career: his hair. That god-awful bleached mohawk!

At the end of the day "a game of cricket, is just a game of cricket" or so says KP - at least now the man can play in the IPL til his heart's content. 

Ball on Willow.

England: The Next Chapter

Where do England go from here? Who will lead them there? And can they ever reclaim that number one spot?

At the moment England are fourth in the ICC World rankings - trailing behind South Africa, India and Australia respectively in Test cricket. 

Our ICC Twenty20 Championships standing has sunk even further. As we sit seventh in the table it is rather hard to see how we ever won the World T20 title back in 2010. 

Four years. Four years passes and we've had another Olympics, another leap year, a presidential election. Four years and England have fallen from hero to zero. 

After a disastrous whitewash in the Ashes against Australia at the end of 2013, England coach Andy Flower has decided to step down. The technical director expalins his decision to leave his post; "To start with a clean slate and begin to instill methods to ensure England are moving in the right direction will be incredibly exciting. But I do not feel like I am in a position to undertake that challenge."

It seems Alastair Cook will keep his captaincy though, as Flower goes on to say; "following the recent very disappointing Ashes defeat it is clear to me that this is now the time for England cricket, led by Alastair Cook, to rebuild with a new set of values and goals."

Andy Flower had a very impressive record after last summer; leading the England squad to three Ashes wins and the World Twenty20 in 2010.

The new managing director Paul Downton spoke highly of Flower; "Andy has been the most successful coach in England's history and we at the ECB are very disappointed to see him leave the role as team director. We respect his decision and the reasons for it but we are keen to keep Andy's experience and outstanding knowledge within the ECB." Downton and Flower are in the "advanced stages" talking over a new role at the ECB thought to be coaching the young players in England's academy in Loughborough. 

It definitely doesn't seem like we've seen the last of Flower.

UPDATE: However, we have been told that we have already seen the last time Kevin Pietersen will wear the three lions on his chest. How will this shape the future of England cricket? Who will lead England there? England limited-overs coach Ashley Giles? Gary Kirsten: head coach of IPL team Delhi Daredevils? Maybe Nottinghamshire director of cricket Mick Newell? Or one of the former coaches of the Sri Lanka national side: Graham Ford and Tom Moody? We've been told a decision will be made within the next two weeks.

Ball on Willow.