Cricket

[RichC]

Pretty damning towards Prior it'll be interesting to see the responses from the ECB and Prior over the coming week or so.

[captainfog]

Pretty damning towards Prior it'll be interesting to see the responses from the ECB and Prior over the coming week or so.

@MattPrior13: After this morning I'm looking forward to reading the full kp book. Might bully my kids into getting it for me for Xmas!!

[RichC]

Ha!

I think it'll be interesting to see the reaction from other players that are in and around the England camp.

[EwarWoo]

Just needs one of them to break rank and confirm and then it'll start coming out.

[captainfog]

If they have any international cricket aspirations then nobody still playing will back up KP.

[Chazza]

If they have any international cricket aspirations then nobody still playing will back up KP.

Yeah as said in the Telegraph article it will only start coming out when they retire.

[RichC]

Oh aye, it won't be anyone currently in the set up but players no longer playing may well come out.

[ChesterDave]

Prior would still be a **** even if he is only half as bad as KP makes out.

[Chazza]

Swann has waded in.

Kevin Pietersen autobiography is a total work of fiction, says Graeme Swann

Former England bowler stands up for Matt Prior and denies there was a culture of bullying and cliques within the team

Graeme Swann led the fightback against Kevin Pietersen’s book which he labelled “the biggest work of fiction since Jules Verne” after the former England batsman detailed a culture of bullying and cliques within the team.

Swann was a member of what Pietersen describes as a bowlers clique, which also included Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Matt Prior, that would berate fielders for mistakes and demand apologies in the dressing room.

In his explosive book KP: The Autobiography, published on Thursday, Pietersen blames Andy Flower for failing to deal with the clique and says anyone outside of the circle was “fair game for mocking, ridicule, bullying.
That’s what those guys did.” He writes he was made a “scapegoat” for the winter’s Ashes defeat.

Swann, speaking at Lord’s at a NatWest awards ceremony for grassroots cricket, dismissed Pietersen’s accusations. He also launched a strong defence of Prior, the subject of some of the most vitriolic attacks in Pietersen’s book.

“I expected it to be the biggest word of fiction since Jules Verne and that seems to have happened. The one thing will say I immediately realised it was codswallop when I read the character assassination of Matt Prior,” said Swann.

“Tragically I don’t think Kev realises the one person who fought tooth and nail to keep him in the side is the one person he is now assassinating: Matt Prior.”

Jonathan Agnew, the BBC cricket correspondent interviewing Swann on stage, said it was Flower who brought Pietersen back into the fold. “But he didn’t want to,” replied Swann, adding to the mystery in recent weeks of who was responsible for his “reintegration” process. Pietersen dismisses Flower’s role writing in his book that he thought the coach was visibly upset when he realised he would be forgiven for the text message scandal of 2012.

The England players had been warned before Monday’s revelations from the book and Pietersen’s interview with Telegraph Sport not to comment on the matter although James Anderson said last week they would not be getting involved in a tit-for-tat argument.

“I think the players will be fine. They have just got to get on and play,” said Swann.

“Kevin has been quite clever because the guys still playing he has left alone and he hopes to get back in again one day. He has picked on people who he thinks can’t answer back.

“If that [bullying] was the case a lot of people would have flagged it up before. We had a magnificent team ethos and team spirit until Mitchell Johnson took his blindfold off and then it all fell apart.”

The publisher released copies of the book to the media on Monday morning but not the England & Wales Cricket Board which is yet to read it. When it eventually lands on desks at Lord’s it will be passed on to their lawyers to comb through before they decide whether to take any form of legal action to defend Flower, who remains an employee of the board.

Prior took to Twitter to say he would fightback after being lambasted by Pietersen as a divisive figure. He is referred to throughout the book by his nickname of the Big Cheese.

Pietersen mocks Prior “a Dairylea triangle thinking he was a Brie,” and a “schoolyard bully who was also the teacher’s pet,” and that he was “backstabbing”. He wrote Jonathan Trott eventually exploded at Prior’s constant abuse.

“Obvs (sic) sad to see the accusations against me this am and I will have my right of reply,” said Prior. “However today is not the day and Twitter is not the place for it! Now back to my Achilles rehab and learning to walk again!”

ECB officials were quick to deny there was a culture of bullying in the team with both Mike Gatting and Paul Downton, the managing director, saying no “formal or informal complaints” had been made by players, although the sight of the bowlers berating fielders was a regular occurrence during England’s glory years.

Pietersen will be doing a round of interviews with broadcasters on Tuesday morning in Manchester before a ticketed questions and answers session in the evening. He will make further media appearances later in the week when he will reiterate his attacks on Flower who he blames for the disintegration of the team in Australia.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain defended Pietersen’s right to have his say after his public sacking earlier this year but expressed sadness that a team which rose to No 1 in the world became so divided.

“It makes fascinating reading,” said Nasser Hussain. “It was remarkable when KP was left out at the end of the Ashes and England fans want to know what happened. KP has provided an insight into the dressing room, albeit his side of things.

“Cricket dressing rooms are a harsh place. It is full of pressures and banter. It is one thing taking mickey out of someone but not about cricketing matters as they become very personal. Everyone has to look at themselves. I’m sure at times Kevin himself was a bit harsh with other players. It works two ways and it will be interesting to see responses from other players to see if bullying worked in both directions.

“All this comes form losing Ashes 5-0. In the end the respect had gone between Kevin and team mates. Once you lose that respect and games of cricket then the wheels can only come off.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevinpietersen/11144459/Kevin-Pietersen-autobiography-is-a-total-work-of-fiction-says-Graeme-Swann.html

[Kenneth]

Cricket can be quite interesting afterall.

[captainfog]

**** off swanny.

[Chris]

Swann's a ****ing cunt and Prior.

[Shaggy]

Needs the likes of Trott and others to come out and back KP up. Interesting stuff.

[captainfog]

I bet swann made those comments with that **** grin on his face.

[Shaggy]

Swann's a ****ing cunt and Prior.

I liked them both purely as cricketers - a lot - but Swann is a tedious, grinning idiot, full of "bantz" and all that ****e, while Prior like Foggy says seems a total macho rugger bellend. He hates football FFS. And I always hated the **** he came out with behind the stumps. There's no doubt he ran the show.