England captain Alastair Cook has given his backing for the “brave call” to end the international career of Kevin Pietersen.
Despite being England’s leading run scorer across all formats, South Africa- born batsman Pietersen was axed by the England and Wales Cricket Board in February following the team’s 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia.
But exactly why he was sent into seemingly permanent international exile remains a mystery, with ECB statements citing a need for team “rebuilding” and “trust” raising more questions than answers.
Test and one-day skipper Cook, to his evident discomfort, was unable to shed any more light when speaking publicly for the first time about Pietersen’s axing during Essex’s media day on Tuesday.
But left-handed opener Cook was in no doubt the correct decision had been taken even though in 2010 World Twenty20 winner Pietersen’s absence-and that of Cook, who doesn’t play in the format-the side bowed out of this year’s edition with an embarrassing dead-rubber defeat by the non-Test Netherlands in Bangladesh on Monday.
“It was a brave call which took guts and consideration,” said Cook of the decision to ditch Pietersen.
“You do have to say at some point, ‘This is the way we’re going to do it moving forward.'”
Something clearly deteriorated in the relationship between Pietersen and Cook given the latter’s role in bringing the star shotmaker’s role back into the England fold after he was temporarily banished following his fall-out with then captain Andrew Strauss in 2012 which came after several disagreements with Andy Flower, the coach at the time.
Cook hinted at the current problem on Tuesday by saying: “We all know how important team culture and team unity is. It was obviously a very big and important decision.”
But he was unable to put the topic to bed, with some members of the England hierarchy having previously indicated they are barred from saying anything specific about Pietersen’s exit because of legal reasons.
Cook said he understood the annoyance of England fans, bemused at why a world-class player and the team’s leading run- scorer in Australia, was no longer part of the set-up but pleaded for patience and said the truth would emerge soon.
“I know things will become clearer in a little bit of time.
