This is the kind of shake up that can, at best, be called dramatic. This has been a dramatic week for cricket in England and there is much sorrow and all the joy has been put on caution.
England have unveiled a new captain, though not by design. Some may argue, it could not have been much longer anyway, almost like Roger Federer conceding the number one tag to Rafael Nadal. But given England’s policy towards cricket and a romance, even a wilting one, with Michael Vaughan would have perhaps ensured the status quo in spite of the decline.
Kevin Pietersen certainly has no mixed feelings on this one. He made it apparent when he brazenly kissed the badge when he scored his maiden century against his home of origin, South Africa, in Bloemfontein. For a man who felt needled by the England crowd and heckled in his former home, perhaps the captaincy will now make him feel like he has truly come home.
The England cricket team appears to have developed a squint with two skippers operating. With Pietersen the only man with any real form and aggression to boot (Andrew Strauss is not making himself a permanent fixture and Flintoff is battling his own comeback; the rest are simply too inexperienced.), the England Cricket Board (ECB) had little choice but to turn to the man who has had no experience skippering a side! If the England team becomes anything like Pietersen’s play, it could either work in making English cricket more interesting or there could be a leftover of a fair amount of debates, either way keeping people at least talking about the game in the once Mecca of the game.
Few would have raised eyebrows about Paul Collingwood stepping down. The man went through an extreme of emotions over the Headingley miss and the surprising Edgbaston recall. While he is considered a toughie in most circles, such a stunted selection policy is bound to confuse the best in the business. His defiance in the series against New Zealand that saw him earn the four match ban would also have affected the way he was seeing the game and if he believes the fun factor is missing and that he enjoys the game less, perhaps Collingwood as a fielder and batsman is more valuable than as a frumpy captain.
Michael Vaughan leaves the English hearts heavier. The man who took England to greater heights retaining the Ashes in 2005 after almost two decades also found the downslide very quickly with own string of injuries and the hard work of building the team around certain imperative requisites has been squandered in the midst in the absence of a follow through. That he now quits in the midst of turmoil as England fans found out when the defeat at Headingley was haplessly blamed on the selection of rookie Darren Pattinson shows that perhaps England cricket will not be settling down any time soon unless skipper Pietersen can now put his foot down and demand and persist with the team of his choice.
The South Africans have never hidden the fact and they blatantly criticize Pietersen’s decision to defect to the country of his mother after playing his teen cricket in South Africa. The opportunity to rub it into England and have Pietersen eat out of their hands in his first Test as captain will not be lost on Graeme Smith and the South Africans. But if South Africans slip up while confidently launching into the offensive, Pietersen will start off a note that will please him as much as it will rile that part of the world. For a dead rubber, the drama appears to have only begun.
The move in 2000 to Nottinghamshire effectively meant four years later he would become eligible to play for England, a possibility he considered simply stating the fact. His ego, branded selfish attitude, had got him into trouble with his skipper and led to the subsequent move to Hampshire which was perhaps a blessing in disguise. Like Graeme Smith who had the opportunity to pick Shane Warne’s brain in the IPL playing for the Rajasthan Royals, Pietersen would certainly have taken cues from the Australian while developing a mind of his own on how he sees England should proceed under his wings.
The once brash individual now dons a diplomatic hat and his every move will be scrutiny. But that is not something he is not unaccustomed to. Though English people would have wanted Andrew Flintoff, Pietersen is the quintessential David Beckham of England’s cricket club. From his skunk hairstyles that raised a few eyebrows to his deliberate attitude that was meant to get under the skin of the South Africans while still struggling to gain the support of the locals in his adopted home, Pietersen has sported it all and is by far the master of experimentation in the team (although how many he has been able to pull is open to debate). This is a new hat he dons and if Pietersen lives up to his persona at least by half, he may well at least have cricket from England occupying the sports page for a change.
