The ECB is right?

A boss of an institution should be like a father. And it’s his duty to ensure his beloved employees’ utmost security and comfort zone.  He should be as caring as a father.  No institutions are without egotistical personalities.  A boss’ biggest challenge comes while handling such colorful personalities. A smart boss operates his egotistic employees with enough intelligence to produce the best of results.

The bosses of a cricket board should be like that. A cricketer’s best comfort zone depends on how the chiefs of a board are handling everything. Cricket is not without egotistical stars. In each decades the green canvas of cricket has observed wonderfully gifted cricketers whose egos ran high. A smart captain and  board operated them well to reap rich harvests. And those boards which have failed to handle their best talents, in turn, have essayed disasters for their teams.

I can see that the ECB is going the same way.

Kevin Pietersen is England’s number one player. Over the years, he has been instrumental in scripting an absolute purple patch for England in Test cricket. Whenever England had needed him, he delivered rollicking performances with the willow to pull England out of the troubled waters several times. He’s a star in world cricket and like most stars he has an ego.

Can you imagine an English batting line up without KP? No you can’t. An English batting lineup without KP is just like a motor car without an engine. But at Lord’s, in the decisive third Test match against South Africa, you won’t find him batting for England. The ECB has omitted KP ‘the morning after releasing a video where he committed himself to all international cricket, because he has failed to confirm that he did not send derogatory texts about Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower to South Africa players during the Headingley Test.’ (source: Cricinfo)

I won’t dig deep about that text messages or video release, but I will like to state that the ECB proved to be a less smart operator while handling his best player. KP has selfishness. He is attracted towards money, thinks more of himself and does things on instincts. But, as Jarrod Kimber said, ‘The ego, instinct and even the selfish nature of KP are part of what makes him a great batsman. He's far from the first great selfish batsman, in fact many of the greatest batsmen have obvious selfish tendencies. Just as many of the greatest cricketers have amazingly big egos. And instinctively doing things is how many athletes live.’

The relationship between KP and ECB have deteriorated over the past couple of months. ECB’s golden child’s ego  was running high but rather than performing the role of a caring father, the ECB acted like a step father towards KP. The ECB has forgotten about those players who have been critical in essaying England's number one position in Test cricket. You don't slice your best players but preserve them smartly.

There had been critical issues and I believe that there were options to solve such issues. Rather than making  the whole saga a circus, things could have been solved had the ECB been like the parents. KP acted like a spoiled child but don’t forget he felt betrayed by his parents. His parents did those acts (feeding the media with talks between KP and ECB again and again) which KP disliked. As Jarrod Kimber said that no matter how insane or egotistical his claims were, KP was within his right to believe that they stayed with his employers.

The ECB has been too harsh towards KP and proved less smart in handling the whole situation. And I also think that captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower could have played vital roles in managing such a critical situation. They both should have stepped up to save their best man in the business.

Imran Khan and Javed Miandad were polarized apart. But Imran handled Javed smartly to make him perform. Imran never let ego intervene to spoil the Same goes with Mike Brearely while handling Ian Botham. The kick of that cow is always felt good as she gives milk in plenty. KP is that cow in the farmhouse which gives the best quality milk. If the cow kicks then make sure you are  smart and expert enough to operate her.

But was the ECB smart or expert enough while handling the KP saga? Is The ECB right with their decision?

I don’t think so.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar