Kevin Pietersen was made scapegoat after England's embarrassing Ashes defeat in Australia: Nick Compton
For cricketer of Pietersen's class, he deserved a better farewell than just an ugly fallout.
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Kevin Pietersen is one of the best batsmen to have played at the international level. He played in a generation where the England Test team had done exceedingly well. However, his career ended in quite a dramatic fashion, something which he wouldn’t have expected.
He was dropped from the side after the 2013-14 Ashes series in Australia. England had lost the series 0-5 and Pietersen, even after being the highest run-getter for England, was dropped from the side. There were speculations that he had a fall-out with the team management, which was indeed the truth of the matter. It was reflected upon by Andrew Strauss, ‘trust issues’ comment about Pietersen a year later when he took over as the Director of Cricket for England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Years after the incident and a tragic Ashes series Down Under, former England batsman Nick Compton has said that he feels Pietersen was made the scapegoat after the 0-5 loss in Australia.
He was an outstanding player: Nick Compton on Kevin Pietersen
“I think he was made a scapegoat. At that stage, relationships were broken down and they were just waiting for an opportunity to move forward. Rightly or wrongly, Kevin Pietersen was ostracized by the higher management,” Compton said in a conversation with sports presenter Dr. Yash Kashikar on his Instagram live show Say Yash to Sports.
The former Somerset batsman, who played a fair amount of his international cricket with the South African-born English batsman also praised. “However, looking back he did a lot of good things. He was an outstanding player who helped me a lot when I was on tours. And of course, his batting did the talking,” Compton added.
The 36-year-old Compton further said that at times Pietersen’s words could be misunderstood. “He is obviously a straight-up individual who said things as they are and at times that’s what may sometimes rub people off the wrong way. In sports, I think you need to black & white. There is no time to mess around. And that’s something that he definitely was,” Compton went on to add.
Pietersen played 104 Tests for England, last of which was at Sydney in January 2014. He scored 8181 runs for England at an average of 47.29 with 23 Test hundreds. He also scored 4440 runs from 136 ODI matches at an average of 40.73. He played his last ODI in 2013 against Australia in Southampton. For cricketer of Pietersen’s class, he deserved a better farewell than just an ugly fallout.
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