‘We could have managed it better’ – Andrew Strauss on England’s miscommunication with Kevin Pietersen

Back during the 2012-13 season, England cricket was a witness to an ugly phase, involving former cricketer Kevin Pietersen. It was during South Africa’s tour of England when an unwanted incident came to the fore. It was learned that Pietersen had sent distasteful text messages to the Proteas cricketers about his teammates, including skipper Andrew Strauss.

Pietersen was then dropped from the Three Lions’ third Test. However, Pietersen went on to make a comeback when the Brits beat India 2-1 in the overseas series. In the same series, the right-hander weaved magic, scoring a significant 338 runs in four matches. Nevertheless, the cold war between him and Strauss continued and the situation hardly came under control.

Pietersen ultimately had to face the axe after which he couldn’t stake his claim back into the national team. Reflecting on the incident, Strauss said that he could have done a bit more for his former mate. He also reckoned that the differences in their thought process didn’t hep the cause.

We were all tired: Andrew Strauss

“I feel like I didn’t do enough work with KP. There came a time where some of the people he was close within the team, either retired or got dropped, there was an opportunity to not bring him in, but spend time with him and make sure his views were values or considered,” Strauss was quoted as saying in a chat with the Sky Sports podcast.

“At some stage, it felt like there were two separate agendas. There was a problem for me, for the team and for Andy Flower. We were all tired, we had spent so much time. But if we had time to think it out clearly, we could have managed it better,” he added.

During the chat show, Strauss said that he understood Pietersen’s desire to play in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL). But he also stated that he didn’t want Pietersen to lose focus from Test cricket.

In 2015 when Strauss was appointed as the Director of Cricket (DOC), he didn’t allow Pietersen’s return to the national team. Pietersen last played for England back in January 2014 in a Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.