03 July 2023 , 08:10
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Kevin Pietersen was never afraid to upset a few people when taking centre stage as a player, and nor has he been a shrinking violet in his work for Sky Sports.
And the former England great, whose superlative talent always came accompanied with ego, has proved a divisive figure at Lord's this week during as Ashes Test that will go down in folklore. From Mitchell Starc's catch that never was, to Alex Carey's removal of Jonny Bairtow, to the members losing their heads in the long room - to say the fallout will linger is likely to prove a ludicrous understatement.
Sure enough, Pietersen was vociferous throughout England's eventual 43-run defeat. Following a lame performance in the field on Friday, he slammed Ben Stokes' side for being too friendly towards the opposition, whilst lamenting an "absolutely shambolic" bowling display.
The comments of the 43-year-old were always likely to have his own critics delving back through the archives of course. Back in 2012, he was suspended by the ECB after being found to have exchanged text messages with the South African touring side, but always strenuously denied offering tactical advice. His close friendship with Shane Warne was also a feature of the 2005 Ashes series
But it wasn't just the hosts left perturbed by Pietersen this week. On Saturday, 'KP' implied, somewhat clumsily, that Nathan Lyon coming out to bat whilst hampered with a calf injury was a speculative ploy so that Australia could potentially use a concussion replacement to bowl in the final innings.
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"Imagine if he [Lyon] had been hit on the head and got concussion," he said. "He’d have got a like-for-like replacement and a world class spinner Todd Murphy, based on how he performed in India, it gives food for thought."
HAVE YOUR SAY! Did Kevin Pietersen overstep the mark at Lord's? Comment below.
Kevin Pietersen slammed England's "absolutely shambolic" performance on day one (Twitter/@SkyCricket)Lyon, since ruled out for the remainder of the series, strongly refuted the comments, citing the death of Philip Hughes who was killed after taking a blow to the helmet while batting for New South Wales. And on Sunday morning it was another of his former teammates, Ricky Ponting, who stepped in to try and clarify his co-pundit's quotes.
"In no way at all were any of us saying that it would be good to see Nathan Lyon get hit in the head and have a replacement," said Ponting. "In fact it was the other, it was almost the worst case scenario for England, if they continue to bowl short and Nathan was hit. I just wanted to clarify that because there has been some negative chat around this morning which has probably been a little bit unfair."
Talking points around Pietersen weren't confined to his work with a microphone either. He was seen mixing with a delegation from Saudi Arabia at 'the home of cricket', amid speculation that the powers that be in the Middle East are looking to set up a new money spinning T20 league.