RIP KEVIN PIETERSEN

Kevin Pietersen has spent years promoting the Pietersen brand and it's finally caught up with him.

After a bit of argy-bargy, he's finally been told that he's not going to be a part of the England cricket team's plans for the foreseeable future; given that he's now 34, that suggests he won't be wearing an England shirt again. A number of pundits and fans have complained that the cricketing hierarchy has unfairly shut Pietersen out; they say that he's the best batsman we've got and that his past indiscretions should be forgiven. Pietersen, of course, has done his bit in making a huge score against the poorest side in the Championship and on the best batting surface in the country, and this has been used as further evidence that he MUST be recalled to the national side.

What all of the pro-Pietersen lobby seem to be willing to ignore is that he was a horribly disruptive influence when he was in the team. As captain, he was a disaster and he was excluded from the side after a series of high-profile actions, all of which served to undermine his team mates, captain and management. He followed up his exclusion by penning a book which included huge criticism of those who had been his close associates, and yet he now wants to come back as if nothing had happened. That the new Director of Cricket for England, Andrew Strauss, has referred to a lack of trust between the ECB and Pietersen is hardly surprising, given the history.

Pietersen is continuing to make loud noises about his disappointment but appears unwilling, or unable, to appreciate that his omission from the national side is down to his own actions. Sadly, he is one of those people who sees only what he wants to and is not prepared do what is necessary to put things right. R.I.P. 

TUILAGI SPOTLIGHTS SPORTING MORALITY.

Manu Tuilagi has suffered the consequences of his shocking behaviour and not only been heavily fined but will also be excluded from England's squad for the Rugby World Cup. It seems that Rugby Union has a moral code which expects its representatives to conduct themselves well, whether on or off of the pitch.

The sanctions faced by Tuilagi, and his acceptance of them, are in stark contrast to the way in which footballers are excused from almost all misconduct. Vicious assaults on or off of the pitch, drink-driving, even rape, are all seen as offences which are excusable and should be ignored. Why is this ? Is it just the money talking or is it that football club owners, managers and supporters really do have little or no morality when it comes to their teams ?

Sadly, the answer is probably rather frightening.

ENGLAND CRASH TO WEST INDIES.

Yet another hopeless performance by an England team.

Alastair Cook, fine batsman though he has been, has proved to be no good as a captain. Jonathan Trott, a man with a history of breaking under pressure, has been brought back as an opening batsman, probably the most pressured position in the order, and has failed. Moeen Ali, an excellent middle order batsman, has been expected to also be the team's principal spin bowler, which he is not up to. Jos Buttler, an exciting one day batsman, is simply not good enough as a Test Match wicket-keeper. All-in-all, this England team has too many players who shouldn't be there.

That said, English cricket as a whole is in a mess. Infighting at the top and regular changes in the domestic calendar don't help. Concentrating on one-day games and 20-20 knock-abouts to the detriment of the longer format of the County Championship has ensured that we produce few players competent to play Test Match cricket. Indeed, most of our Test Match players rarely, if ever, appear in the County Championship and a handful of appearances in shorter games is the most that the supporters of County sides can hope for.

Of course, the shorter format competitions bring in much needed money but they have also destroyed our traditional county cricket, which was the breeding ground for the Test Match team. Now, we have hordes of players who may be brilliant at 20-20 but are temperamentally unsuited to 5-day cricket; we also select captains on the basis of their performance as batsmen, something that is fine in schoolboy cricket but a recipe for disaster once the schoolboys have grown up.

Until someone gets a grip on all of this, England will continue to struggle in the international sphere of Test Match cricket. So-called 'experts' and 'pundits' will voice their opinions, always fro the viewpoint of insiders; the likes of Ian Botham, Mike Atherton, David Gower and co., are all part of the cricketing establishment and far too close to the people involved to do more than keep repeating the same tired clichés.

This is not something that is specific to cricket. England's football, tennis, golf, athletics and much more all suffer from the same disease. Until we change our whole sporting culture, we will continue to fail at these, and many other, sports.

RUSSIAN ATHLETES IN DOPING SHOCK HORROR.

Today's news has a couple of stories which are hard to believe,

Apparently, Lamine Diack, who is head of the IAAF, is 'shocked' by suggestions that the performance of many Russian athletes is being enhanced by the use of drugs. This over paid goon says, in time honoured fashion, that his organisation will clean it up. Where have I heard that before ?

Athletes have been using drugs for decades. Every now and then, this abuse hits the headlines and there are promises that it will be stamped out. Phooey. The world of major international sport is so lucrative and riddled with corruption that no one will ever do anything meaningful to change things. The leaders of organisations such as the IAAF, the IOC and FIFA have a vested interest in ignoring the abuses and even in sweeping them under the carpet.

International sport is a disgusting cesspit of corruption, run from above by elites who make vast fortunes for themselves while giving not a dickie bird for the sports they are supposed to be representing. It's well past time that the IAAF, IOC, FIFA and all the rest were shut down and we got back to the days when sports was a pastime rather than a money making venture. Some hope. 

SIX NATIONS OPENER IS A CRACKER !

What a great performance by England !

For a Six Nations starter, Wales v England at the Millennium Stadium was always a huge match but it turned out to be a real thriller and a surprisingly good game. The early exchanges were dominated by the Welsh and they quickly built a 10-0 lead, with England being almost overwhelmed. To their credit, England didn't panic and gradually clawed their way back into the match. At half-time, the Welsh still had a big advantage at 16-8 but England were much more in the game. The second half was 'all change'.

From the kick-off, England dominated to such an extent that Wales rarely threatened anything of note. England pulled the score back to 16-15 and then went ahead with a penalty; another penalty put England 5 points ahead and that was the final nail in the Welsh coffin. Two 'almost' tries for England demonstrated their total second-half dominance and, in the end, it was a terrific and well deserved win for the visitors.

What makes this result even more significant is that England had a huge number of absentees through injury; with a fully fit squad, it starts to look as though this could be a really good team with a genuine shot at winning the World Cup later in the year. Bring it on !!

CHED EVANS - RIP ?

Ched Evans. an overpaid footballer, was sent to prison for rape. His sentence was, apparently, 5 years, and he has, as is the custom, been released after serving just half of his sentence behind bars; the rest is 'on licence', meaning that he can now live at home but has to report regularly to the authorities and behave himself on pain of being returned to prison.

There has been much said about him since his early release, probably much more than was ever said before he committed the offence for which he was imprisoned. Most of this commentary has been negative and one can hardly blame the commentators. The problem is that Mr Evans wants to resume his career as a footballer.

If he had been a carpenter or plumber, no one would have heard anything about all of this; he'd have done his time and come out, picked up some work and that would have been the end of it. Unfortunately, he's not a carpenter or plumber, he's a footballer. In the distorted world in which we now live, footballers are, somehow, at the top of the tree when it comes to 'celebrity'. Even though the vast majority of the population could happily walk passed him in the street without having any idea as to his identity, he is that worst of all possible human creatures - a 'celebrity'.

Because of his status, Evans' career is also an issue. Footballers tend to be role models for children and, as such, their conduct is under scrutiny. While on-field thuggery is accepted as being 'par-for-the-course', rape is, no doubt surprisingly to some, considered a little too much to stomach. For others, he's served his sentence and should now be allowed to resume his career. I feel that the truth is somewhere in between.

The fact is that Evans has not yet served his sentence. His release 'on licence' was after serving just half of the 5 years imposed on him. To my mind, he still had 2½ years to go and for him to be welcomed back into the celebrity world of football before that time is up is entirely wrong. Once the full 5 years have passed, again to my mind, he should then be available for clubs to think about signing him up.

Right now, it's reported that Oldham Athletic, a League One club (which equates to old style third division) are reported to be on the point of signing Evans up. 'Why ?' is a question that occurs immediately, but the answer is probably pretty simple. Evans is desperate to get back in to the only job he can do and it wouldn't surprise me if he was offering his services for free. Oldham could undoubtedly do with a player of Evans' abilities, so ........................ .

This is not an easy situation but it seems to me that it can be simply resolved. Evans still has a significant portion of his sentence to serve and, until that time is up, he should not be allowed anywhere near a football pitch. His 'celebrity' status dictates this and it has nothing do with silly legal arguments about such things as 'restraint of trade'.. Once the full 5 years are up, he should be free to work as a footballer anywhere he likes or, at least, anywhere that will have him.

Evans was convicted of doing something very bad and to expect to simply forget it and go back to a privileged lifestyle is wrong. He has to be made to understand this and to accept it. So do the clubs who still want to ignore basic morality in pursuit of footballing glory.

A QUESTION OF SPORT.

Whatever happened to "A Question of Sport" ?

Years ago, this was a genuinely good and interesting sporting quiz, albeit compered by some right idiots in David Coleman and David Vine, surely 2 of the worst sports presenters in television history. However, the teams were good with a degree of intelligence thrown in alongside the occasional knockabout humour. In recent times, all this has changed.

Since the introduction of team captains such as Ally McCoist, Matt Dawson and, most notably Phil Tufnell, the programme has descended into puerile farce though, despite its puerile nature, it's also been scheduled later and later, possibly due to the doubtful nature of much of its content. Team members now seem to be chosen more on the basis of their connection to the BBC or on grounds of political correctness rather than anything else. The boringly regular inanity of the chit-chat allied to the general stupidity exhibited by the current captains has made this programme, once unmissable, now one to be avoided at all costs.

No doubt the BBC would say that all they've done is to 'update' the programme's format to meet the expectations of a modern audience. Well, if that's so, then one despairs for the 'modern audience'.  For this viewer, all they've done is to drive him far, far away.