KEVIN PIETERSEN'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS

KP HAD A SUPERB ENGLAND CAREER BUT UPSET PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY. NOW A T20 GUN FOR HIRE, HIS VIEWS ARE AS CANDID AS EVER

Every story has a beginning, middle and end. I was there for the opening chapters of Kevin Pietersen’s career in English cricket. When he was at Nottinghamshire, impatiently serving out his qualification period, I interviewed him for The Sunday Telegraph, when he would tell me he was waiting and hungry to wear the three lions. 

His subsequent largely successful England career has been exhaustively chronicled by others, and now it appears to have come to an abrupt end. So I jumped at the chance to find out what his plans are for the last few years, potentially – injuries permitting – of his playing days, and then beyond…

I would call myself a Pietersen pragmatist. He should not have messaged the South African side about his skipper, Andrew Strauss. And his second book was ill-conceived (certainly if he wanted to continue playing for England). He has also said some crass, silly things in the past. For example: “One day, I rang Adam [Wheatley, his agent, and said], ‘Can you get me a Porsche, please?’ I had a 911 within two or three days.” He also told Australia’s Ed Cowan: “I’m not ------- English, Eddie. I am South African, I just work here.” Worst of all, to my mind, was the belittling of James Taylor after that Headingley 2012 Test. You could see why a certain type of English cricketer would not warm to his confusing blend of arrogance, narcissism and, yet, contradictorily, insecurity, and disconnection. Plenty have spoken highly of him, including Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Chris Tremlett, but they are not your typical, English-type ‘laddios’.

For me, international cricket is about bums on seats, however, and if Pietersen remained good enough, he should have been playing. The dodgy dossier after the 2013/14 Ashes failed to pin any significant dirt on him. There was a coherent argument that his powers were on the wane after that series, and the injuries these days are pretty frequent, but who really could make a case that he would have failed to outperform Alex Hales, James Vince and Gary Ballance in the Test side this summer?

The Cricketer was offered the chance to speak to him at his KP24 Foundation project, UK 24/7, at the sumptious grounds of Wellington College in Berkshire. Four teams’ worth of disadvantaged 16 to 20-year-olds were staying at the school and playing cricket. They looked very grateful, were having a whale of a time, and it was all – or partially – down to Pietersen, who mingled happily among them. Cynics would say it was PR, but no one is forcing him to do such good deeds.

He was supremely relaxed and friendly after a summer off with his family. And, of course, being KP, as soon as the microphone started recording, he could not fail to be outspoken.

I was quite surprised by his seeming antipathy towards the IPL (his current beau is Australia’s Big Bash); and not surprised in the least by his scornfulness towards the NatWest T20 Blast, and England’s batting this summer. “I have two years left with the Big Bash [for Melbourne Stars]. It’s the best competition,” he said. “It’s much better than the IPL. In India you struggle with a high profile to leave the hotel, and with all the corruption over the years, you have to tell people what you are doing, where you are, every five to 10 minutes. ‘In the hotel, I’m going here’ – it’s ridiculous. I understand it, but it’s ridiculous.

“In Australia you are living the Australian lifestyle. I go and play golf in the morning, go and have coffee, go out at night, you do not have to tell anyone what you are doing, you just live your life. The sun is shining, you play at some of the best stadiums in the world, they are full – we had 81,500 for our derby last year, and if that cannot turn you on, nothing will. It turned me on more than a lot of Test matches…”

Pietersen injured his calf in this year’s IPL, playing for Rising Pune Supergiants. Despite his dislike of the cloistered environment he feels there, he plans to return, and he says the cricket is still good. “I have a two-year deal with Pune. You cannot compare the standards [of the IPL and Big Bash] as they are in different territories.Australia presents you with bouncier, faster wickets, and blokes running in bowling fast, and India presents you with spinning tracks, where you have to have your wits about you, and you have to be able to play a different game.”

He is fit again now. “The calf is fine – it was better six weeks or so after the injury – I had some real good treatment on it. I decided – family decision – I was going to take this summer off. We have a baby, and I wasn’t with Dylan for a lot of the start of his life, after being non-stop for 15 years, and we have had the best time. Then my winter starts with craziness in October… absolute madness, which is great.”

That will be building his fitness up ready for the Ram Slam in South Africa. Clearly it is not a massive money-spinner for him, but he likes it for other reasons. “It’s a good comp. Gets me on the golf course during the day. The sun is shining. Then I whack a cricket ball in the evening. The Dolphins [Kwa-Zulu Natal] are really close to  my heart, because that’s where home is. Mum and Dad live there, I was brought up there, all my mates are there, I have just been there for 10 days. It ticks all the boxes. It was struggling for star quality because of the rand – the exchange rate doesn’t help. It’s tough to pay players what they get paid in England, the IPL or the Big Bash.”

He opted out of the Caribbean Premier League this year to have that family break. He is tepid about it. “The CPL… it’s not bad, it’s OK. The travel days are horrendous, the different islands, them being different countries, and the airlines you fly on.” I ask him if he is open to a return. “Possibly… but I have had too good a summer. I have enjoyed it a lot.”

So, KP’s verdict – Big Bash: brilliant. IPL: good but cloying. Ram Slam: OK and at home. CPL: adequate. Bet you cannot guess what he said about the NatWest T20 Blast…

I ask him why he declined Hampshire’s approach. “Listen, If I was going to play for anyone, I’d play for Surrey; Surrey have been amazing to me for the last few years, and I love Surrey. Rod [Bransgrove, Hampshire’s chairman] did enquire but, for me, I was summer-off material. And I also don’t believe the NatWest T20 is any good. It’s a rubbish tournament. Playing one day a week, or twice a week, then you go on and play a four-day game. So many counties, the standard is poor. You won’t get the best players. Until you get a franchise system here, which they are talking about, which I think is going to be brilliant, then that’s what you’re after…”

What if they have a condensed window but just carry on with the counties, I ask him – what is it specifically about franchises?

“Stronger opposition, more people will come and watch, bring the players together…”

But, I say, do you really think cricket fans people would prefer Southampton v Leeds rather than Hampshire v Yorkshire?

“You have a look at the Tour de France. It started a few years ago in England. There were over a million spectators watching that…” So, I say, is it the novelty factor? But will that not have a short shelflife, therefore?

“We are so lucky in this country to have such wonderful spectators. Because it’s more corporate-based. You go to South Africa, look at the Test – I think they must have paid 3,000 people to go and watch South Africa v New Zealand last week. Hardly anybody was there, but here you will still get people going, because it’s a corporate day out, it’s a very corporate sort of thing in this country, so you are always going to get spectators. You would get the best players in the world, playing together, you get your England players together in the competition: of course people are going to watch…”

Roy Keane would rail at Pietersen’s adoration of the prawn-sandwich brigade, of course, and I say to him, the counties would still argue that you could have two divisions and, because it is in a short window, they can still get the best players…

“Look, it doesn’t need to be a new franchise thing. I think a franchise thing is better because you get better quality players … you cannot tell me you will get the same quality of player with 18 franchises… better players through 18 teams, than eight… there’s no way in the world, it just doesn’t make sense… You get four international players, in eight franchises, you then only have six or seven slots for players… 56 players. That’s it.”

I do not bother arguing that you could get the best international players in a top division, and that England and Wales has a population of 60m, compared to, say, 25m in Australia. I do not think I am going to change his mind.

So I change the subject. Test cricket. Surely that is finished for him, isn’t it? What about this talk of playing for South Africa? “If it happens, it happens, all options are open,” he says. “I get asked too many times by people, or people say to me, you should still be playing international cricket. I could still be scoring Test hundreds, comfortably. I think people have seen over the last couple of years I have been lucky enough to get player of the series, player of the series, player of the series everywhere I have gone, because I can still bat. If the opportunity presents itself, I will have a look at it.” For England or South Africa, I ask? “I will have a look at it.”

I enquire if he watched the Tests against Pakistan, and if he felt annoyance that he was not out there.

“I didn’t see much [of the English Test summer]…  I didn’t think I should be out there. I know I am good enough to play for England. Comfortably. But it just doesn’t happen.”

Was it galling to be told to go out in 2015 and score runs, then score 355 not out for Surrey against Leicestershire, and still not be picked? “Yeah, it pissed me off. It is what it is.”

I ask him if he fears life after cricket. He is 35, it sounds as if he is going to try to play at least two more years, until 37… “I love batting. I love the art of batting. So as long as I keep on enjoying that…”

Will he still be batting at the age of 61? “No! I just love to practise. Thinking that, OK, I know I am going to be playing in South Africa in a couple of months, so for a month before, I am going to be thinking, I am going to be flying into the country, and I am going to need to be doing this, this, this and this. And see if I can execute it the next day.” I press my point. So he says he loves all that – will he therefore miss it when he does go, at 37, 38 or whenever?

“I don’t know, I’m not there yet. I have enjoyed the summer, that’s for sure, not worrying about a cricket bat. I have been lucky enough to play in an era where we have earned not bad money, and I have always been very smart, and made some very clever decisions and opportunities; so after cricket doesn’t worry me at all.” I do not mean finacially,  I say, I mean keeping himself busy... “No, I play golf a lot, which gives me that mental stimulation  and I have loads of business interests.” Is he good enough to play pro golf? “I need to practise a hell of a lot more.” What’s his handicap? “Seven. Not bad for two years of golf!”

What is more satisfying, I ask: building a Test hundred or hitting 40 off 25 balls in a T20? “You get a thrill and enjoyment out of both. It depends. I know there are Tests I have played around the world where there are not many people watching and it’s rent-a-crowd… and you look at the Melbourne derby, and there is a girls’ game beforehand, and you are warming up, and there are 81,000 people, and you are thinking, this is outrageous.”

So if he was on the last day of a Test, batting beautifully, but few were there to witness it, would that detract some of the pleasure for him?

“Yes, I like entertaining. It’s hard to fire yourself up for that. Why don’t I play four-day cricket? Why don’t I play county cricket? Because three people watch it.”

So he can bat as brilliantly as he could, but it would not give him joy? “No.”

Does he think T20 is impacting on people’s techniques, when he sees Vince or Hales struggle? “No, that’s just poor preparation. Rubbish preparation. Because I am a T20 player, I’m a flamboyant player, and I was hardly ever caught at slip off a left-arm seamer. It’s just stupid preparation.”

Is it anything to do with T20 one night, four/five-day game the next, and players being unable to readjust in time? “No, I don’t think so, because it’s all part of the gameplan. In one-day cricket or T20 at the top of the order the ball still swings, and you still have areas in which you can score. Pushing at balls outside off stump to a left-arm seamer, when they have set you up, and the ball is swinging back in, that’s stupid batting.”

And they cannot blame T20? They are too good for that? “They should be too good! They are playing Test cricket! For your country. I didn’t watch much cricket this summer. Half an hour maybe. I have caught up with a lot of the highlights.  I can’t just say [about Vince]…”

I tell him he kept pushing outside off stump and nicking off. “Stupid.”

Is he comfortable with how things ended with England? “I am comfortable with all my achievements, and all the team achievements. It definitely didn’t finish in the way I would have liked, after everything I have achieved in the game. But it might still not be finished… I might have to finish it somewhere else.”

Oh KP, you tease… Whatever he does, you suspect he will always divide opinion, always upset the applecart. Some people are just like that.

KP’s CHARITY

The KP24 Foundation–UK 24/7 Project is the UK version of last year’s Sprite 24/7 project.  Wellington College hosted a fully funded 10-day residential cricket and educational camp for 72 participants aged between 16 and 20. Handpicked by Chance to Shine’s street initiative, the young adults gained access to a comprehensive programme of cricket and education, mixed with opportunities to interact with Kevin Pietersen and his KP24 Foundation team (of whom ex-Nottinghamshire and Hampshire seamer Richard Logan is chief executive). The six sides were from Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, East London (selected with the assistance of Capital Kids Cricket), south London and north London.