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| Kevin Pietersen set for Surrey as Sunrisers release him from key IPL duties | Kevin Pietersen set for Surrey as Sunrisers release him from key IPL duties |
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| Kevin Pietersen has vowed to do everything in his power to force an England recall, beginning with an avalanche of runs in county cricket, after being released from the bulk of his commitments with Sunrisers Hyderabad. | Kevin Pietersen has vowed to do everything in his power to force an England recall, beginning with an avalanche of runs in county cricket, after being released from the bulk of his commitments with Sunrisers Hyderabad. |
| The 34-year-old, who has been in exile from international cricket for 13 months after seeing his central contract paid up by the England and Wales Cricket Board after the Ashes whitewash in Australia, is is expected to be announced as a Surrey player on Wednesday. | The 34-year-old, who has been in exile from international cricket for 13 months after seeing his central contract paid up by the England and Wales Cricket Board after the Ashes whitewash in Australia, is is expected to be announced as a Surrey player on Wednesday. |
| Pietersen’s ears were pricked at the start of the month when the incoming ECB chairman, Colin Graves, insisted any talk of a return was moot unless Pietersen secured a domestic deal and scored heavily in first-class cricket. It appeared a softening of the official stance towards the four-times Ashes winner. | Pietersen’s ears were pricked at the start of the month when the incoming ECB chairman, Colin Graves, insisted any talk of a return was moot unless Pietersen secured a domestic deal and scored heavily in first-class cricket. It appeared a softening of the official stance towards the four-times Ashes winner. |
| Graves has since spoken to Pietersen on the telephone – with first contact now understood to have been made on 2 March, the day after those initial comments - and has granted him a meeting next month when the player returns from a punditry stint at the World Cup. But even before that slated face to face, which is also likely to include the new ECB chief executive, Tom Harrison, Pietersen has secured a release from the league stage of Indian Premier League and will return to The Oval, where he played as a Twenty20 specialist last summer. | |
| Should the Sunrisers reach the knockout stages of the IPL, which coincide with the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s starting on 21 May, the franchise will recall him. Were England to pick him – something for which both the managing director, Paul Downton, and the national selector, James Whitaker, maintain there is zero appetite – they could in theory block that return. Neither man is secure in their job, however, given the harrowing group stage exit from the World Cup and the general handling of the Pietersen affair. | Should the Sunrisers reach the knockout stages of the IPL, which coincide with the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s starting on 21 May, the franchise will recall him. Were England to pick him – something for which both the managing director, Paul Downton, and the national selector, James Whitaker, maintain there is zero appetite – they could in theory block that return. Neither man is secure in their job, however, given the harrowing group stage exit from the World Cup and the general handling of the Pietersen affair. |
| Another whose position would surely become untenable is the Test captain Alastair Cook, whose mood will not have been improved by this latest news, coming just moments after he was dismissed for five while playing for MCC on day three of their season-opening fixture against Yorkshire in Abu Dhabi – his second failure of the match. | Another whose position would surely become untenable is the Test captain Alastair Cook, whose mood will not have been improved by this latest news, coming just moments after he was dismissed for five while playing for MCC on day three of their season-opening fixture against Yorkshire in Abu Dhabi – his second failure of the match. |
| Cook is privately furious at the talk of a Pietersen return – he has made those feeling known to Graves – while he is similarly hurt by the interpretation of his comments last week, when he suggested a lack of leadership at the World Cup, in his absence, contributed to the group stage exit. Graves, who flew home yesterday, wants Cook to focus his energy on next month’s three-Test tour to the West Indies, who he believes could be seriously weakened by the number of players who will take part in the Indian Premier League when the series begins. | Cook is privately furious at the talk of a Pietersen return – he has made those feeling known to Graves – while he is similarly hurt by the interpretation of his comments last week, when he suggested a lack of leadership at the World Cup, in his absence, contributed to the group stage exit. Graves, who flew home yesterday, wants Cook to focus his energy on next month’s three-Test tour to the West Indies, who he believes could be seriously weakened by the number of players who will take part in the Indian Premier League when the series begins. |
| “If we don’t win, I can tell you now there will be some inquiries of why we haven’t,” Graves told BBC Radio Leeds in an interview yesterday. “I’d certainly be disappointed if we don’t win the West Indies series, because I am pretty sure the West Indies are going to have a mediocre team.” | |
| Pietersen had earlier used his personal website to confirm the alteration to his IPL deal having been signed for a cut-price fee of around £205,000 in February. | Pietersen had earlier used his personal website to confirm the alteration to his IPL deal having been signed for a cut-price fee of around £205,000 in February. |
| “I’m hugely grateful all the support and understanding I’ve received from everyone at the Sunrisers and the IPL,” Pietersen said. “My focus is now very much on the upcoming season in England and I’m absolutely determined to score as many runs as possible. | “I’m hugely grateful all the support and understanding I’ve received from everyone at the Sunrisers and the IPL,” Pietersen said. “My focus is now very much on the upcoming season in England and I’m absolutely determined to score as many runs as possible. |
| “I’ve never made any secret of my overwhelming desire to once again represent England and I’m going to do everything in my power to earn a recall to the international set-up. To once again put on that England shirt would be a privilege and an honour but now I have to focus on performing domestically and give myself the best possible chance of meriting selection.” | “I’ve never made any secret of my overwhelming desire to once again represent England and I’m going to do everything in my power to earn a recall to the international set-up. To once again put on that England shirt would be a privilege and an honour but now I have to focus on performing domestically and give myself the best possible chance of meriting selection.” |
| Harrison and Graves, who officially join forces at Lord’s in mid-May when the latter replaces Giles Clarke at the ECB’s annual general meeting, are keen to make a fresh start for English cricket after a year of turmoil but privately maintain their focus is on a reordering of the game as a whole, with the Pietersen issue deemed very much secondary. | Harrison and Graves, who officially join forces at Lord’s in mid-May when the latter replaces Giles Clarke at the ECB’s annual general meeting, are keen to make a fresh start for English cricket after a year of turmoil but privately maintain their focus is on a reordering of the game as a whole, with the Pietersen issue deemed very much secondary. |
| Their strategy on the batsman remains unclear, with the unfolding events since Graves’ BBC radio interview on 1 March seemingly benefiting no one were the prospect of Pietersen’s international return truly to be a non-starter. | Their strategy on the batsman remains unclear, with the unfolding events since Graves’ BBC radio interview on 1 March seemingly benefiting no one were the prospect of Pietersen’s international return truly to be a non-starter. |