Pietersen and confronting abuse

The next chapter in the Kevin Pietersen autobiography is Pietersen and confronting abuse

With the reintegration complete but things were not that great in the England dressing room. The on-field abuse continued. The Big Cheese, as Matt Prior likes to call himself, was at it. If it was one of the little cheese, the protected ones, absolute silence. For example, in India, Anderson misfielded of Finn’s bowling allowing Tendulkar, who had been under pressure following a string of low scores, to get off the mark. Prior did not say anything because Anderson was the little cheese. Just that period, The Big Cheese got a fat Big Bash contract and he just couldn’t stop talking about it. Let me take the small section from the book verbatim because it is hilarious.

Then the Big Cheese got a Big Bash contract in Australia. The Big Cheese down under – exactly what the world wanted. For the last week at the end of the Test series in India he’s talking exclusively about the Big Bash in the dressing room. Cheese is talking about how Cheese’s sponsor is going to change the colour of Cheese’s equipment to match Cheese’s Big Bash team colours. He says Cheese will be flying to Australia on Christmas Day to go and play in the Big Bash.

Flower was impotent to stop the abuse

Pietersen confronted Flower over the behaviour of Prior. He basically wasn’t amused by the hypocrisy of Flower. On the onehand, KP was admonished for talking about IPL whereas on the otherhand, Prior kept on talking about the Big Bash right in the middle of the game. Flower for his part, never really reprimanded or even warned Prior for his outrageous behaviour. Prior’s close relationship with Flower helped him in a great way. Whatever he did, no one could question him. When the England team went to New Zealand, The Big Cheese insisted on taking his bike (bicycle) with him. It was stupid because you would rent bikes in New Zealand just like back home in England.

His shenanigans ever increased during the tour. Flower did not have anything to say. Instead, he told another player after KP had left the tour because of a knee injury, that he left so that he can claim the IPL insurance. It seemed that Flower & Prior loathed the sight of Pietersen in the dressing room. More than anything, it was the double standards that Pietersen could never accept. Prior was treated differently to the same perceived offence when compared to him. For this, Flower needs to take a lot of blame.

The 2013 Ashes series

England and Australia had just finished an Ashes series in England when they were slated to meet again in 6 months in Australia. The English media always judged an English side based on how they performed in Australia. Flower for his part, became ever more rigid and tight in his thinking. The freedom that was given to the players during the previous tours, was missing this time. Flower sought to control everything about every player. The pre-series training camp was a nightmare. They were all sent to a town in Midlands for some sort of army level training. It was supposed to create bonding between the players but ended up boring them.

One of the player, having had enough, left the team altogether. As soon as they reached Australia, they were in a lockdown. Flower did not allow the younger players, including Ben Stokes, to go out at all. KP confronted Flower about this but to no avail. Just before the first Test at the Gabba, which was Pietersen’s 100^th Test, the ECB gave him a silver cap but the name was written as Pieterson. Hence, he asked one of the player to send it back to the ECB to get it corrected. However, at the end of the Test, the cap was returned to him with a strike through O. It showed the lack of respect and resentment that ECB had towards Pietersen.

The newly christened Johnson and wrapping up Pietersen and confronting abuse

Turning back to the Ashes, a brand new Johnson turned up at The Gabba. Fast, intimidating and accurate Johnson. England did not have an idea until they saw Trott face a brute of a delivery from Johnson that hit his head. It got everyone worried. Immediately, Pietersen asked Mushtaq Ahmed to go with him to the nets and bowl bumpers at him for 30 minutes. Johnson was in his element. Usually, he does not mind a chat with Pietersen but this time, he didn’t say a word. Michael Clarke used him brilliantly. He did not give him more than 4 overs in a spell which kept Johnson fresh throughout the day. It meant that he never became tired and was fast in spell after spell he bowled.

Johnson got into the minds of the English players. They knew that they were in for a shellacking on the tour. The England bowlers feared going out to the middle. It says a lot about how brutal and devastating was Johnson. Johnson was a weapon against whom England did not have an answer. They were truly and well cooked for the series in that first game itself. If Johnson was menacing, Ryan Harris moved the ball at high pace which added to the misery of the English batsmen.

Autobiography