I’m still unsure…

To those who follow this blog or my twitter page on a regular basis, you will be aware that I’m not a massive fan of KP. It started since textgate and if I’m honest, I never fully respected him post-reintegration.

However, the release of the autobiography has made me think. I’ve tried to look at all the evidence and have honestly tried to see if I was wrong – too harsh on Kevin.

To me, though, there are still too many questions I have not seen answered in order to for me to actually believe the story that Pietersen is portraying.

Firstly, KP Genius. You have spoken very well about the effect that the account had on you. And I believe it. The parody account was in poor taste and most importantly to the Twitter folk, not actually very funny. Yet your story still has issues. Why did you not name the architects of the account in your autobiography? Why have the three people you have named who ran the account (Anderson, Broad, Swann) different from the three people Alec Stewart named? Why have you blamed Anderson for the account, when he never actually followed it?

Secondly, textgate. Kevin has accepted he made a mistake here and has apologised. I do think this is the right move as the messages were an obvious issue of trust. He has fairly blamed the parody account for leading to segregation from the rest of the England players. Despite all of this, there are still a few grey areas in regards to the story. Why did you involve Andrew Strauss in your texts, despite him having no involvement in the parody account? Why are you unable to remember the content of the message, despite it being an important moment of your life?

So, I move onto Matt Prior. This is the biggest problem in my opinion. Matt Prior was very influential in the reintegration process for Kevin Pietersen yet on Sky Sports yesterday, Pietersen said “the public think he was influential”. He obviously thinks that Prior’s input was limited. He also makes reference to Matt Prior’s nickname – Cheese – as if this somehow influences his character, despite the fact there is evidence that Andrew Strauss and Stuart Broad to name a few, used it on a regular basis. Why do you think Prior had no involvement in the reintegration process? What was the issue with the nickname?

The technique of Kevin Pietersen came under much scrutiny throughout his career, probably a lot more than others. And Kevin has tried to give clarification on the issue – “I was in the team to destroy attacks in three hours. We had Bell, Cook, Trott and Strauss around me to support”. This is fine, however, the game at Perth (where the dismissal came under so much criticism) was not the time nor the place to do that. Game Situation is all important. The way I play is not an adequate response. What were you trying to gain by taking on long-on when England needed to bat out the day to survive? Were there instructions from the dressing room to play your natural game or was it just stupid?

Andy Flower in the eyes of many is one of England’s most successful ever coaches and it is a justifiable claim. During 2009-2012, this was one of England’s most successful ever period. To me, it is a real shame that the character of Andy Flower is being very sadly demonised. During the 2010-2011 Ashes, much was mentioned of England’s fantastic team spirit and in particular the environment that Flower had created. Would England have become World No.1 without Andy Flower?

Bullying is a very strong accusation and I’m sure that Kevin Pietersen will have some proof before he makes these allegations. However, on the whole issue, I feel he’s been very hypocritical. If a friend of KP’s bullies Matt Prior and Alistair Cook it is fine, when a friend of Stuart Broad bullies Kevin Pietersen it is unacceptable. Some say it is different because the England bowlers were providing information to the KPGenius account yet from the descriptions Piers Morgan has been giving throughout the summer about Cook and Prior, it is clear he has been given information from inside the dressing room. Furthermore, I, like everybody else, witnessed Graeme Swann’s Ashes Diaries and the Sprinkler and at the time, I commented that the reason they won the Ashes was due to the united team. Were there divisions during that team in the successful period? Is it OK for Matt Prior and Alistair Cook to have been so publicly bullied in the manner that they have? Why should everyone else be thick-skinned, when you yourself know of the effect that cyber bullying can have?

I will read the autobiography for the first time tomorrow and there may be the answers in that book. However, if not, I’d still like these questions to be answered. If there is a true explanation for all of them, it would probably convince me that KP is a victim – it concerns me that a lot of these questions are probably unanswerable. I’d like to think I’ve been fair with these questions and I haven’t made anything up. I honestly think these are holes in the KP story. I’ve tried not to be biased throughout all of my writing – the only reason why I haven’t done a similar piece for the ECB is because I struggle having to write more than 2000 words.

If anyone does feel they know any of these answers, feel free to comment below to enlighten my knowledge.

@voicefromstands