Kevin Pietersen's book rocked cricket but dig a little deeper

Kevin Pietersen's autobiography seems to have an endless stream of sad score-settling.But while the former England batsman's claims of a bullying culture are certainly worthy of investigation, it's KP's mass of contradictions that leap off the page.Skating on thing iceAfter the removal of Peter Moores and Pietersen's demotion from the captaincy, England travelled to the West Indies in early 2009. Pietersen relates that he ‘gave it my best' upon being back in the ranks. ‘I had come to the Caribbean and gone out of my way to make things as smooth as possible for Straussy,' he insists.Yet within a week of arriving, he was agitating to be allowed home between the third and fourth Tests. The reason: his wife Jessica had chosen to appear in the Dancing On Ice television programme rather than joining other families on tour. Strauss and Flower understandably declined his request.Who bullies a bully?One of Pietersen's central claims is that a culture of bullying existed in the England dressing room, particularly among the clique of Matt Prior, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann.Yet in his book Pietersen is relentless in his contemptuous attitude towards Prior, assassinating his character and constantly ridiculing him with references to his moniker of ‘Cheese' or ‘Big Cheese', having a go at everything from his on-field attitude to his cycling obsession.The scale of abuse he directs at Prior appears to be of a persecuting nature itself.How about Pietersen sitting with his mouthpiece Piers Morgan at Lord's this summer while the broadcaster tweeted about Alastair Cook: ‘We're watching you captain weasel.' Is that not bullying?What about Pietersen's criticism of batsman James Taylor on his debut at Headingley? He did this both to Andy Flower and his team-mates. He also criticised Michael Carberry, a supposed friend, in Sydney as England plunged to a 5-0 defeat. He asked Jonny Bairstow, in front of the team: ‘Is there not anybody better than this bloke in county cricket?'Petals floweredThe other main target of vitriol is coach Andy Flower, for whom KP makes no secret of his contempt. He also outlines how he was in two minds about his one-day career and wanted to give it up to achieve a better work-life balance and make his career more manageable.Yet in 2011, at the height of all this discussion, he sent an over-friendly email to Flower opening with the line ‘Howsit Petals?' — the nickname Flower used to have in Zimbabwe, one only really used by southern Africans.In the nauseating email he declared an ambition to be one-day captain but only if Flower stayed on as coach so that they could work together — in contrast to his claim in the book that the pair had not get on ‘ever since 2009'.Pietersen also calls Flower's coaching into question. He writes: ‘I know you are a dreadful coach not by how you won but by how you lost. Your methods created an environment where people became terrified of failing.'Yet the facts do not support the idea that Flower was a bad coach, however poor that last tour of Australia. He took England to No 1 in the world in three forms of the game, winning three Ashes series, one of them away, and achieved an away series win in India, admittedly with Pietersen playing his part.You'd Swann off, too.This week, at one of his public appearances, Pietersen attacked Graeme Swann for quitting the disastrous Ashes tour last winter (but did not do so in his book). According to the batsman ‘a lot of the players felt aggrieved by him jumping ship in the middle of the series. He let the team down. If it was his elbow, fine, but he could have held on for another couple of weeks'.Yet the document about Pietersen's behaviour compiled by the ECB, which was leaked this week, suggests that he told a member of the medical staff that if the third Test was lost he would use his knee condition as an excuse to go home. Pietersen denies this, although in 2011 he left the World Cup with a hernia problem that tour staff felt was manageable.Soon after returning to London he was spotted in a nightclub.Tempted by IPl richesPietersen has repeatedly said that he did not wish to prioritise the lucrative Indian Premier League at the expense of his England career, while espousing the IPL's virtues in his cricket development. He has always said that England was his main concern.Yet he asked to fly to India to play in the IPL semi-finals right in the middle of back-to-back Tests against the West Indies at Lord's and Trent Bridge in 2012.Dressing room talesIn a press conference at the start of the Ashes tour last summer, KP declared that the England camp was a place full of harmony, a united place. ‘We're all having so much fun. I think we'll stay friends after cricket,' he said. ‘We've all grown up and the environment now is absolutely fantastic — I'm not lying, I'm being dead straight.'Yet in the book he says quite the opposite: ‘The dressing room had been awful for years. There were wins and star players, but the dressing room was sick all along.'First-class puzzlePietersen still maintains that it is his wish to play international cricket again and that he hopes certain changes of personnel at the top might help him. ‘If I was offered the opportunity to play Test cricket again for England I would jump at the chance. I dream of playing for England again,' he says in the book.Yet this summer, when he was contracted to Surrey, he failed to play a single day's first-class cricket for the county, apparently disappointing his old mentor Graeme Ford. It was a strange way to push the case that he fervently wanted to play Test cricket again.Tweet and sourKP made much of how the spoof Twitter account @KPGenius upset him and how it led to him breaking down in tears in front of Flower, of all people.Yet Pietersen received requests to stop Piers Morgan tweeting abuse about players, in particular Alastair Cook, to Morgan's huge audience. When these approaches were made he told his colleagues that they needed a thicker skin.Memory failure.In his book Pietersen insists that he cannot remember the wording of the texts he sent about Andrew Strauss in the episode known as ‘Textgate'.He says he sent them to a friend in the South African team and they were just part of ongoing banter with an old mate. Yet he details conversations that were had with others stretching back several years, including quotes in conversations.A negative imageAt the end of his autobiography Pietersen asks: ‘Am I bitter?' and answers: ‘No, and no again', insisting (correctly) that he has much to be proud of.Yet his account of his latter years with England focuses heavily on spats with fellow players and is full of justification for his arguments, giving it an almost joyless tone despite it covering a period when England — and he himself — enjoyed plenty of success.Sadly, he dwells on the negative aspects of what happened towards the end of his international career and almost skims over many of his fine achievements.

Kevin Pietersen's book rocked cricket but dig a little deeper

Kevin Pietersen's autobiography seems to have an endless stream of sad score-settling.But while the former England batsman's claims of a bullying culture are certainly worthy of investigation, it's KP's mass of contradictions that leap off

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