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Alastair Cook says he did not issue ultimatum over Kevin Pietersen Alastair Cook says he did not issue ultimatum over Kevin Pietersen
(about 3 hours later)
Alastair Cook insists he did not issue an ultimatum to England’s management before they decided to continue Kevin Pietersen’s international exile. The England captain Alastair Cook went on record before Thursday’s first Test with New Zealand to deny issuing a him-or-me ultimatum to the England and Wales Cricket Board over Kevin Pietersen’s continued international exile.
Cook was heavily criticised in Pietersen’s autobiography, and it was reported last week that he presented the new England and Wales Cricket Board director Andrew Strauss with a “him or me” decision for the Ashes summer ahead. On a day when it emerged that the ECB have made contact with Yorkshire’s Jason Gillespie over the vacant head coach position, Cook insisted he fully supported the decision on Pietersen, while praising Andrew Strauss, the new director of England cricket, as a “great leader of men”.
However, at his and the interim coach Paul Farbrace’s press conference before the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s, Cook categorically denied any such conversation took place. Strauss and the ECB chief executive Tom Harrison quashed growing talk of a Pietersen return last week when they informed the 34-year-old batsman he would not feature in the senior team’s summer plans due to a lack of trust between the two parties.
Cook said that Strauss, and the ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, decided to leave Pietersen out and to sack coach Peter Moores without any input from him or his team-mates. “There was no ultimatum. I can deny that,” said Cook. “There is nothing we can do about it as players. The decision has been made ahead of us, by Andrew Strauss and Tom Harrison.” But while Cook’s relationship with Pietersen has been broken since the doomed 2013-14 Ashes tour – a situation made worse by the latter’s incendiary autobiography last October, in which he compared him to Ned Flanders from the Simpsons – the current Test captain insists he did not influence this latest call. “There was no ultimatum. I can deny that,” Cook said at Lord’s . “It was a decision taken by Straussy and Tom Harrison. We weren’t consulted.”
He said: “It wasn’t and isn’t my decision. I trust those that made the decision. I have to let management manage.” When asked if he backed Strauss, his former opening partner and Test captain, in ending Pietersen’s stated dream of playing for England again, Cook added: “I do agree with the decision, yes. I’ve watched Straussy from the other end and I’ve worked underneath him as a vice-captain – he was a great leader of men.
Asked would he have played with Pietersen had he been selected, he responded by saying it was “not a relevant question”. Pietersen’s hopes of a return to the England fold before the start of the Ashes was effectively scuppered by his former captain Strauss, who cited a “massive trust issue” between the batsman, his erstwhile team-mates and the England and Wales Cricket Board. “I know he thinks about decisions a hell of a lot and this wasn’t just an off the cuff decision. It’s one he gave a hell of a lot of thought to and I trust him to make the right decision over what he thinks is best for English cricket. That’s what’s happened in this situation. I’ve got to go out there and do what I’ve been trying to do: win games of cricket for England.”
As Strauss was unveiled as the ECB’s new director of cricket, he nipped any talk of a return for the South Africa-born batsman in the bud. “We’re in a position now where there’s a massive trust issue between him and the ECB. It’s very much a two-way process. I’m not apportioning any blame. It’s happened over a number of years,” he said. More pressing for England – aside from this upcoming two-Test series against an aggressive New Zealand side that would see them drop from fifth to seventh in the world rankings if defeated – is the appointment of a new head coach before the Ashes series in July.
“No team environment can be sustained without a lack of trust. I’ve let him know he’s not part of our plans for the future, and I can’t give him any guarantees beyond that.” Gillespie is now understood to have spoken to Strauss over the telephone with further talks imminent, although he has previously stated he would need “serious persuasion” to leave Yorkshire, amid concerns over time commitments and the power he would wield.
The furore over Pietersen has torn English cricket asunder since his removal from the squad after the catastrophic Ashes defeat in early 2014. The man who sacked him then, the managing director Paul Downton, has since departed as have two England coaches in Andy Flower and Peter Moores. The county champions insist the ECB have not officially approached them yet, although a club insider admitted private contact was likely to have already been made and that events were expected to gather pace over the next 24 hours.
Cook said of Moores’ exit: “It was a tough call and we all feel for Peter Moores. He was a players’ coach, a guy who was right on the pulse. Getting the best out of people was his real strength. As a player and captain I loved my time with Mooresy.” Paul Farbrace, who previously worked with the former Australia fast-bowler at Headingley and won the 2014 World Twenty20 when in charge of Sri Lanka, is currently in place as caretaker coach following the sacking of Peter Moores and while he would be interested in taking over full time, the former wicketkeeper would be equally happy to slot back into the coaching staff.
That the board’s position needed to be restated was, in part, down to the words of the incoming chairman and millionaire founder of the Costcutter supermarket chain, Colin Graves, who, at the start of March, told a radio interviewer that Pietersen’s England exclusion would continue unless he signed to play first-class cricket for a county, where runs could force the selectors into a rethink. “I just want to be involved in working with the team and helping the team and its players to get better,” said Farbrace. “I have enjoyed being number two, I enjoy working with players and I enjoy being in the nets and practising. Whatever job I end up in, so be it.”
While his removal as captain in 2009, due mainly to a fallout with the head coach Moores, in his first spell in charge, began the mutual distrust between Pietersen and the ECB, text messages sent to South African opponents about his captain, Strauss, three years later proved most damaging. Cook, who has seen off three head coaches in Andy Flower, Ashley Giles and Peter Moores during his two-and-a-half years as England captain, believes making the correct appointment is of greater relevance than the speed by which it is made. “The most important thing is we get the right man for the job,” Cook said. “We’ve got Farby, who is a very fine man and has won at international level. In ideal world we would all agree you want them in before the Ashes. But if that isn’t the case, we can’t do anything about it.”Such upheaval in English cricket has left many tipping New Zealand for the series. And while the rock-and-roll World Cup campaign that saw them finish as runners-up to Australia may have come with the white ball, their aggressive approach to batting and the new-ball threat of Tim Southee and Trent Boult makes such predictions understandable.
After three months on the sidelines and a stage-managed “reintegration” into the side, troubles returned on the tour of Australia under the captaincy of Cook, leading to Pietersen’s permanent removal. Captain Brendon McCullum is wary of the home threat, however, in this 100th Test between the two sides. “England are obviously going through some challenges, we’ve been there and understand what every team has to go through,” he said.
His incendiary autobiography published last October, in which team-mates, coaching staff and ECB officials were dispatched to all parts, then made Pietersen’s stated aim of a return look somewhat optimistic. “But they are still stacked full of world-class players and in their own conditions will be a tough proposition. We are by no means thinking we have got them and know we’ll have to play extremely good cricket.”