Former England skipper Andrew Strauss has come in defence of former coach Andy Flower and said that the autobiography of Kevin Pietersen is damaging English cricket, while Pietersen has insisted to settle the relationship with his former teammate.
Pietersen has targeted Flower in his biography, saying that the Zimbabwean had built fear in the England dressing room. He also claimed in an interview that he has said nothing wrong about the former coach and he “can look Andy Flower in the eye and say” it.
Strauss insisted that the ongoing buzzes is not helping the England cricket and they are preventing current coach Peter Moores and skipper Alastair Cook in taking the side forward.
“A lot of this that’s going on at the moment is madness,” Strauss told Sky Sports. “There’s been a lot of rumour, innuendo and opinion. I prefer to stick with the facts. All this tit-for-tat stuff, I don’t think really helps the England cricket team.”
“The victim here really isn’t Kevin Pietersen, or Andy Flower or Matt Prior or anyone; it’s actually the England cricket team and Alastair Cook and Peter Moores who’ve got to try to take the side forward. That, to me, is the disappointing thing about this whole episode,” he added.
Former teammate of Pietersen, off-spinner Graeme Swann had said that the biography was a work of fiction, while former skipper Nasser Hussain insisted that the stylish right-hander now has no chance of making into the England team.
Pietersen, however, received the backing of pacer Chris Tremlett, who was also part of the 5-0 Ashes thumping Down Under. Tremlett twitted “Glad @KP24 has finally been able to give his side of the story. People can now make an informed opinion of what went on in the dressing room.”
Meanwhile, Pietersen said he wants to settle his relationship with Strauss, which fallout when the former sent disparaging texts regarding the later to the South African players.
“I made lots of mistakes,” Pietersen told Talksport Radio. “I’ve been crucified publicly for them and I’ve apologised for them but my biggest regret is getting involved in all that “messaging stuff at a time when Andrew Strauss was just about to finish his career.”
“Straussy and I were incredibly good friends, we’ve got a patchy relationship at the moment, and I just wish I could give him a hug and say, ‘man, can we just put this behind us’? I like Straussy and I like [his wife] Ruth and I definitely hurt his final test match which I’m not proud of at all.”
