Cricket

[Shaggy]

Oooooooooooooooh!!!!!

Kevin Pietersen @KP24
Fewer Q&A's, more Sussex nets methinks, @MattPrior13! #josbuttler ��

[Chazza]

Can't help himself.

[Shaggy]

He's ****ing right

Getting some stick on Twitter but he's entitled to have a go back. He outperformed Prior in Oz anyway.

[captainfog]

Fingers crossed.

It's a shame cos I've loved Prior for England but reading that he just sounds like a brown-nosing lickspittle.

Exactly how I feel.

[captainfog]

Oooooooooooooooh!!!!!

[Shaggy]

Julie Gould @rabbitsj70
@KP24 @MattPrior13 I'm sorry KP, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. Don't know what to say. Be strong don't let it get to you

Kevin Pietersen @KP24
@rabbitsj70 I'm always strong! The Big Cheese won't be happy in the Sussex nets...haha

[Sarb]

Prior is a ****ing dickhead. Should go back to throwing jelly beans on the pitch

[captainfog]

What would prior know about the dressing room post KP? He's not in it on account of him being dropped for being **** for 12 months.

[Chazza]

Didn't see this coming.

Smith announces retirement from International cricket

Castle Lager Proteas Test captain, Graeme Smith, will end his 347-match International career after the third Sunfoil Test against Australia at Sahara Park Newlands.

Smith broke the news to his team mates after close of play earlier today.

Speaking of his decision Smith said: "This has been the most difficult decision I have ever had to make in my life. It's a decision that I have been considering since my ankle surgery in April last year. I have a young family to consider, and I felt that retiring at Newlands would be the best way to end it because I have called this place home since I was 18 years-old.

"I have always been someone who has left everything out there on the field for my team and for my country. I'm extremely honoured and proud to have had the privilege to lead so many wonderful players and to have been a part of building the Proteas culture to what it is today. It is a culture that every player can be, and is, immensely proud of," Smith continued.

"I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the support from my parents and brother, my wife and children, my friends, my sponsors, my fans and to Cricket South Africa. I thank and honour the players who I have played with and those who have supported me and helped me to be the person and captain I am today. I have been fortunate to have had many highs, amongst them leading and being part of the best Test team in the world. I will cherish these memories for the rest of my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I bid my career a fond yet sad farewell," the 33-year-old added.

Cricket South Africa reacted with surprise to Smith's decision, but CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat, was full of praise for the contribution made by one of the true legends of the game.

"Although Graeme's decision to retire from all forms of international cricket comes as a surprise to all of us, we must respect him for deciding to call time," commented CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat. "Knowing him as well as I do, having been instrumental as a selector in appointing him as a young captain, he would not have taken this decision lightly or without a great deal of thought.

"He has captained the Proteas for more than a decade and he will draw a lot more satisfaction from the fact that he leaves our Test team at the top of the world and in such good health rather than from all the personal records he has achieved as the longest-serving captain the game has ever seen in the demanding Test format. He also led South Africa to the World Cup semi-final in 2007.

"I would like us to remember Graeme for his nerves of steel and his match-winning performances that were synonymous with some of the most remarkable fourth innings victory chases of all time. These included setting up the 414 runs chase against Australia at Perth and his series-clinching innings at Edgbaston in 2008, not to mention the unbeaten century the last time he faced Australia at Sahara Park Newlands in 2011.

"His role in setting up the famous 438 win over Australia in 2006 was also a performance never to be forgotten.

"He can leave the game with pride and he thoroughly deserves the gratitude of our nation for leading the Proteas with much distinction. From a personal point of view I am thrilled that I was part of the panel that appointed him captain in 2003 when his first major assignment was a tough tour to England and I feel privileged to see him now move on to the next stage of his career. He has been a mighty warrior, a leader of men and an exceptional part of our international cricket.

"Following the recent retirement of Jacques Kallis from Test cricket, there is no doubt that we are now ready to move into a new era and it is our job to build on the solid foundations that these great players leave behind."
Smith made his first-class debut for South Africa at the age of 21, and ends his illustrious career with 17 228 International runs and as the most capped Test captain in the history of the game. "

http://www.cricket.co.za/news_article.aspx?id=3528&section=news&subsection=news_all

[RichC]

Wow, that's a massive shock tbh and he's only 33 certainly got a few more years left.

I wonder if the IPL is looking attractive to him at the moment

[Chazza]

295 matches as captain over 11 years.

Pretty impressive.

[RichC]

Aye very impressive.

[Beastie]

Being dropped "quite literally wrenched my heart out".

No it didn't Prior. No it didn't.

Sorry Shaggy, but just to keep you up to date. It can now be used figuratively.

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary_literally_now_also_means_figuratively_newscred/

[Shaggy]

Sorry Shaggy, but just to keep you up to date. It can now be used figuratively.

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/acco...vely_newscred/

Totally not having that. **** dictionary. If the OED changes its meaning I'll concede.

[Shaggy]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/10669369/Kevin-Pietersen-row-reignites-as-former-England-team-mate-Graeme-Swann-calls-him-childish.html

Kevin Pietersen row reignites as former England team-mate Graeme Swann calls him childish

The Kevin Pietersen row was reignited by Matt Prior's comments and now Graeme Swann and Piers Morgan have added fuel to the fire

Graeme Swann accused Kevin Pietersen of “upsetting people wherever he goes” as the damaging divisions between the controversial batsman and his former team-mates flared up on Friday.

On another fractious day for English cricket, three of the most senior Test players of the past decade traded insults, leaving the England and Wales Cricket Board’s attempts to move on from the Ashes debacle in Australia this winter in disarray.

Swann insisted the ECB’s decision to terminate Pietersen’s international career after the Ashes whitewash had been justified, and said he had not wanted “childish” Pietersen to return to the England team after he was dropped for disciplinary reasons in 2012.

Swann went further than any other England official or player in his attempt to explain why Pietersen had been axed, but still failed to offer any specific breaches of discipline, claiming instead he recalled “little things” Pietersen had been guilty of during the Ashes tour.

Swann retired from cricket suddenly mid-series, claiming he could no longer play the game to Test standard. He made his comments during an appearance on the BBC’s Test Match Special, for whom he is now commentating.

He said of Pietersen: “I’ve not heard of specific instances that took place on the last three weeks of the tour, when I wasn’t there, but little things are getting back to me. I was all for never having him back in the team after the Strauss affair [in 2012] but Cook and Prior talked me round. Kevin is a world-class player but he does upset people wherever he goes.”

Swann’s comments followed Pietersen’s criticism of Prior on Friday morning, which itself had been prompted by the wicketkeeper saying that the England dressing room was a better place without Pietersen.

Prior had been instrumental in Pietersen’s return to the Test team in 2012, but their relationship soured in Australia this winter, and broke down completely after a highly-charged team meeting in Melbourne.

Piers Morgan, the celebrity interviewer who has been acting as Pietersen’s unofficial spokesman, has repeatedly accused Prior of disloyalty, prompting other England players to issue messages of support for Prior.

The wicketkeeper reopened the feud at a question-and-answer session in Dubai on Thursday evening, when he said Pietersen’s absence would improve the atmosphere in the England dressing room.

Pietersen responded via Twitter, taunting Prior over the fact he has lost his place in the England set-up and is now trying to regain his best form as part of his county’s preparations for the new season.

Pietersen said: “Fewer Q&As more Sussex nets methinks.” He added: “County nets! Not where ‘Big Cheese’ wants to play his cricket.”

‘Big Cheese’ refers to a nickname held by Prior in the England dressing room at points during his career.

The ECB has been criticised for its failure to explain exactly why Pietersen was dropped by England, or detail any disciplinary breaches, but Swann said he thought Prior and Pietersen should have aired their dispute in private.

“Matt’s been a bit naive and Kev’s come back in a childish way,” Swann said. “Gone are the days of phoning someone up and thrashing it out; it involves a million people on Twitter these days.

“I still don’t know what exactly happened but I’ve been assured by the one or two friends I still have in the team that things did happen. I’m as intrigued as anyone because Matt was one of Kev’s biggest allies.

“Matt was one of the reasons why Kev was reintegrated back into the team when a lot of players, myself included, were thinking there’s no way he should play again after what he did to Andrew Strauss [against South Africa]. But guys like Alastair Cook and Matt Prior talked us round. They said Kevin can change and he did for the 18 months or so that I was involved.

“People talk about Sir Alex Ferguson being the best man-manager in English football, but when anyone got on the bad side of him, he got rid of them – like David Beckham, Jaap Stam or Roy Keane.”

Swann’s assessment of Pietersen was seized on by Morgan, who said: “Swann stabbing Kevin Pietersen in the back again, just as he stabbed all his colleagues in the back by quitting this winter. Gutless coward.”

Morgan then made reference to the relative inexperience of the England team playing in yesterday’s one-day international against the West Indies in Antigua.

Singling out bowler Chris Jordan, playing in his sixth one-day international, Morgan said: “How can any sane human being think Chris Jordan should be picked for England, and Kevin Pietersen dropped? ECB clowns.”

Pietersen is subject to a gagging clause which was part of his severance package from the ECB. That prevents him from detailing the events which led to his expulsion from the England team, but it will expire in the autumn, when he is expected to tell his side of the story in an autobiography.

Cook, who has been retained as England’s Test captain despite the whitewash, has yet to make any public comment on the decision over Pietersen. Andy Flower left his position as England’s head coach in the aftermath of the Ashes series, having endured a strained relationship with Pietersen for two years.