Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Arthur Crabtree wrote:I dunno. I've heard he's playing some of the IPL too.

Think his franchise have the right to recall him should they reach the knockout stages.

Thought KP was at Surrey all season to put pressure on the ECB to be picked?

I think he'll have to play in the knock out games should the Sunrisers get that far. As far as the CPL goes, it probably depends on how England get on against the West Indies and New Zealand. If KP scores big runs and one of the top order is struggling then I'd imagine he'd want to stay.

ddb wrote:Thought KP was at Surrey all season to put pressure on the ECB to be picked?

So did I but his release from the IPL was apprently only a partial one :

. Should the Sunrisers reach the knockout stages of the IPL, which coincide with the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s starting on 21 May, the franchise will recall him

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/m ... risers-ipl

Making_Splinters wrote:I think he'll have to play in the knock out games should the Sunrisers get that far. As far as the CPL goes, it probably depends on how England get on against the West Indies and New Zealand. If KP scores big runs and one of the top order is struggling then I'd imagine he'd want to stay.

I wonder if any of the division 1 sides were interested in KP? Had he played in the top division and scored prolifically then the pressure for a recall would have been immense. If the powers that be are determined not to pick him the they could use runs scored in the second division as an excuse not to.

I'm not sure if there's any pressure on him to play 50 over cricket.

Hampshire said they would sign him.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Hampshire said they would sign him.

That would have been a good move.

captaincolly wrote:

Making_Splinters wrote:I think he'll have to play in the knock out games should the Sunrisers get that far. As far as the CPL goes, it probably depends on how England get on against the West Indies and New Zealand. If KP scores big runs and one of the top order is struggling then I'd imagine he'd want to stay.

I wonder if any of the division 1 sides were interested in KP? Had he played in the top division and scored prolifically then the pressure for a recall would have been immense. If the powers that be are determined not to pick him the they could use runs scored in the second division as an excuse not to.

Only need to look at England's touring squad of the Carribean to see the next set of middle order batsmen:
Jonathan Trott, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes

Then players who featured in the World Cup and playing Division One Cricket:
Moeen Ali, James Taylor, Eoin Morgan

Followed by Division One batsmen with proven potential in First Class Cricket
Alex Hales, Scott Borthwick, James Vince, Samit Patel, Alex Lees


In short, KP has got to hope the England middle order fail to perform, along with anyone in the fringes having a bang average season before his own form is even considered.

Pietersen was only dropped for non performance related reasons. All it takes is for those reasons to be rescinded and he's back in the frame. Realistically, all it takes is for the batters to play poorly v NZ, and then look like they can't handle the Aussie pace bowlers, and he could easily be back. If the batters in place do well in the next three series, it's definitely all over for KP.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Pietersen was only dropped for non performance related reasons. All it takes is for those reasons to be rescinded and he's back in the frame. Realistically, all it takes is for the batters to play poorly v NZ, and then look like they can't handle the Aussie pace bowlers, and he could easily be back. If the batters in place do well in the next three series, it's definitely all over for KP.

The irony is that the latter part of his England career suggested he was past his prime so there would have been a reasonable case for not picking him for that reason. However by claiming his dropping/sacking was for non performance reasons the ECB have taken all focus away from his seemingly waning powers as a batsman.

Maybe. The last couple of years of all the England batters had suggested waning powers, or increased inconsistency. Cook, Trott, Bell and Prior did about the same overall. There was a case for trying them all under a new coach before moving on. Not Moores though. Arguably he was only appointed to squeeze KP out. Was KP past his best, or was everyone just trapped in a hell of Flower's making?

Yes, senior batters all underperforming over the same period. I still think though that - once the ECB had decided to get rid of KP - they could have just left him out. The big mistake was to engineer a situation where he could be regarded as the victim of a duplicitous regime. If they wanted rid of him they should have had the nous to do it with more subtlety.

Well, they didn't want the press to push for his return... So they tried to get rid of him for good.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Well, they didn't want the press to push for his return... So they tried to get rid of him for good.

Yeah and it has backfired on them. Chances are had they just not picked him without making a big point of it then he would have drifted out of the FC game - as he seemed to be doing last year - and that would have been an end of the saga.