KEVIN PIETERSEN threw his cap into the ring for England’s one-day captaincy last night and announced: “I’m ready to lead again.”
Three-times Ashes winner and Twenty20 world cup holder Pietersen’s first reign as skipper lasted just 150 days before he was forced out along with coach Peter Moores in January 2009.
Even by Lord’s standards, it was a botch-job and Pietersen admits he was “deeply hurt”.
But at England’s debrief after a triumphant winter in Australia, Andrew Strauss is expected to quit as 50-over captain next month – which would leave the door ajar for Pietersen again. And as KP modelled England’s new one-day replica shirt on a retail park in Enfield, he confirmed he was ready for another crack at leadership.
Pietersen, 30, said: “If the one-day job becomes available, I would definitely be up for it.
“A lot of water has passed under the bridge since I last did it and it’s something I’ve thought about in the past few weeks since the rumours surfaced about Andy Strauss stepping down.
“Second time around I think I could do a real good job as I’d be older and wiser, and would handle a few things a lot differently.
“I didn’t think I was too bad first time around – we had our moments against South Africa, and it took a century of freakish brilliance from Sachin Tendulkar to deny us a famous Test win in Chennai.
“So if the opportunity came up and I was asked I would say, ‘Thank you very much, I would love to have another go’.
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“I wasn’t too despondent about why it ended, or even how it ended, but I was certainly hurt by some of the negative publicity which followed. Some of the nonsense about a divided camp, and players being for or against me, was deeply hurtful and it took me a while to get over it.
“But time’s a great healer and I’m ready to do it again if the opportunity arose. I respected Andy Flower as a player, and as a coach I respect him more than ever now.
“He’s done an amazing job since he took over and he deserves all the plaudits.
“He has moulded the team in a very respectful manner, in an atmosphere where everyone is entitled to voice an opinion – whether you have played 100 Test matches or just one.
“It’s a happy ship, Andy keeps it on a very even keel, and my relationship with him is absolutely fine – both on a technical level and as a person.”
Flower expressed disappointment when Pietersen’s World Cup campaign was ended by what turned out to be a double hernia. The injury, at the end of an absurd schedule, was untimely because his move up to open in 50-over cricket showed promise.
But he was followed home by dark whispers of playing the drama queen, and hamming up the injury – even though it proved to be as serious as his Chelsea football chum Frank Lampard’s double hernia, which kept the England midfielder out for four months.
Pietersen, who plans a comeback for his new county, Surrey, in mid-May, said: “I’m no wimp and I’m not sure the people who called me that name would have been able to deal with the discomfort.
“At the World Cup I was on the strongest painkillers you are allowed to take, but I just ground to a halt.”
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