Graeme Swann aims fresh dig at "dishonest" Kevin Pietersen after "d***head" jibe

08 June 2023 , 10:48

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Former England spinner Graeme Swann (Image: Ben Radford/Corbis via Getty Images)

Graeme Swann and Kevin Pietersen may have been part of one of England's most successful Test teams, but the pair are far from friends and Swann appears to have aimed a fresh dig at his ex-teammate.

Under head coach Andy Flower, Swann and Pietersen were integral to an England side that was ranked No 1 in the world and won the Ashes three times - including a historic 3-1 victory away from home in 2010-11 that remains England's only series win in Australia since the 1986-87 tour.

However, after Pietersen was controversially axed by England following the 2013-14 Ashes whitewash which also saw Swann retire midway through the series things got ugly.

Pietersen released a tell-all book later that year, alleging there was a bullying culture within the team and claimed in an interview that Flower "wanted me to fear him". Swann steadfastly rejected Pietersen's accusations of bullying and branded the book "a work of fiction".

And ahead of this year's Ashes, the former spinner could not resist taking another shot at Pietersen when asked about the fact that Flower has joined Australia as a consultant coach, stating that only "dishonest players" did not like his approach when he was England coach.

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"I don't think England should have let it happen," said Swann, who now work alongside Flower as a coach at Hundred franchise Trent Rockets. "They should have said 'we'll pay you what they are to come back and work with us.'

Swann has aimed a fresh dig at Kevin Pietersen, having labelled him a "d***head earlier this year (Getty Images)

"You can't stop a man doing it but England shouldn't allow Australia to have any little advantage. Good on Andy, though. He was an absolute joy as England coach and I look forward to working with him again for Trent Rockets this summer. He was so blunt and up front with England and I loved that.

"Honest players thrive on that sort of coach and it was only the dishonest players we had who didn't like his approach so much." It comes after Swann branded Pietersen a "d***head" earlier this year in an appearance on the Rig Biz podcast when discussing the 2013-14 Ashes.

He said: "There was a general undermining of the captain and trying to get the captain sacked and the coach sacked and generally being a bit of a k**b, bit of a d***head, but we didn't all know. We just thought Kev's Kev but he was being quite nasty behind the scenes and using his friends in the press, it was messy."

Matthew Cooper