Alan Swann’s sport column: I’m gutted. The sport I love more than any other has shown itself to be no better than football in its willingness to prioritise winning ahead of morals and patriotism.
Kevin Pietersen’s imminent return to the England cricket team leaves me with a horrible taste in my mouth.
Does anyone seriously think England would have allowed this South African plank back into their dressing room if we had beaten his real fellow countrymen in the Test series at the end of last summer or won the World Twenty/20 Cup?
Of course not, but England are wobbling, their captain has, quite rightly, retired and there is a tough trial by spin ahead in India followed by a couple of Ashes series coming up.
There is no doubt that England have a better chance of winning with Pietersen than without him.
But they’d probably have more chance if Graham Smith and Hashim Amla turned English as well, but that shouldn’t happen either.
Have those running the Test team in England not realised that Pietersen (right)has wreaked havoc in virtually every dressing room he’s been in?
From Natal to Notts the end was always the same. Team-mates fall out with the ego in the room and he moves on.
If Pietersen was picked for a Pacifists XI he’d probably have them fighting within a week.
I’d rather we lost to the Aussies fielding 11 true Englishmen committed to their country’s cause, than beat them with a few mercenaries in the side with allegiance only to their bank balances and potential spreads in Hello.
Mind you I’d rather Peterborough Town CC had won the Northants Premier Division with a team of locally reared youngsters as opposed to three professionals, so maybe I’m just too romantic and idealistic.
Winning is all that matters apparently. The means is irrelevant
I expect this sort of behaviout from football clubs.
Manchester City won my support last season for casting Carlos Tevez to the wilderness after he refused to go on to the pitch in a losing cause in a Champions League match.
But when the Premier League title that City had spent so much money trying to buy was slipping away, all was forgiven and Tevez returned to the fold and started kissing the club badge again.
I’m surprised at England cricketcoach Andy Flower. I thought he was made of sterner stuff so maybe he’s all about the win percentages and win bonuses as well.
I just don’t see how Pietersen’s ‘re-integration’ works anyway.
Are they going to confiscate his mobile phone at the dressing room door?
If I saw him leaving the full length mirror for a fleeting moment to send a text message I’d assume he was up to no good.
Suspicion will be rife for as long as Pietersen stays on board and I’m not sure new skipper Alistair Cook will be able to cope.
He appears to be such a sweet lad and he needs to be concentrating on his batting, not worrying whether or not Graham Swann and Stuart Broad are putting Deep Heat in Pietersen’s jockstrap.
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