http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GC-Smith-c1473 – Cricket News Update
Reiterating his team’s commitment to sportsmanship and fair-play, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive David Collier, who claimed the Proteas
players had provoked England batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 into sending the text messages that exacerbated his row with the ECB.
“We pride ourselves on being a sporting and ethical team,” Smith asserted. “We talk a lot about values and our approach to the game. We play hard but we play fair and any suggestion that we did this as a tactic is totally unwarranted and unnecessary.”
Pietersen’s strained relationship with the ECB took another nosedive during South Africa’s tour of England earlier this year, as it was revealed that the 32-year-old had sent text messages of a questionable nature to members of the South Africa team, who
were in the middle of an all-important Test series against England.
The Poms underwent a tough period during which they not only lost the extended-overs series and their top Test team ranking to the Proteas, but were also severely troubled by the Pietersen-ECB row which culminated in the retirement of then Test captain Andrew
Strauss. Reports alleged that the text messages had contained either derogatory comments regarding Strauss and team director http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Flower-c44362, or tactical advice on how to get Strauss out.
While Cricket South Africa (CSA) dismissed the texts as “banter”, Pietersen was dropped from the England squad, and the subsequent http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 saw the Poms failing to defend their title and crashing out of the tournament. Recent talks
between Pietersen and the ECB, however, have seen the issue drawn towards a resolution – however, speaking for the first time in public about the incident, Collier placed the blame on the South African team.
When questioned during a recent interview with the BBC about the context of Pietersen’s messages to the South African team members, Collier claimed that while he had not seen the Blackberry messages in question (no evidence of which remains), they were “responses
to messages from certain members of the South Africa team”.
“I certainly think they [South African players] provoked the situation,” Collier went on to say. “I think there was a tactic which was used. I think that is sadly some of the ways of modern sport.”
CSA’s acting CEO Jacques Faul expressed his disappointment at Collier’s baseless claims, while South African Cricketers' Association (SACA) chief executive Tony Irish insisted Collier owed the Proteas players an apology, and deserved to be punished, just
as players are, for making “an inflammatory comment”.
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