Kevin Pietersen, the South African-born cricketer who will convince you that he is more English than South African, has ascended to the highest throne in English cricket.
How ironic that this happens few weeks after I had bought a copy of his uninspiring book, Crossing the Boundary.
Kevin takes the England captaincy at a time when the country’s cricket is at a crossroads and in need of an urgent revolution. Revolution, one poet once said, needs heroes; whether Kevin is England’s knight in shining amour is another story.
I must admit, Kevin is not the kind of guy with whom I would have drinks, or whom I would consult when I want lectures on patriotism.
And he is definitely not someone I would call when I want an advice on hairstyles, as I think he has a bad taste.
But Kevin is good; he has come of age and in the past few years has undergone some major improvements and gained maturity in his game. He has developed into one of the most potent batsman in the world and is currently every bowler’s nightmare.
He is indisputably the best one-day batsman, and this towering lad has also made his presence felt on the five-day version of the game.
Kevin spent ample time working on his technique and, for a lad that tall, he has worked around his height and his bat-lift.
Undoubtedly, he is the best cricketer in England and at a time when the country’s national side is branded with mediocrity, with the exception of a few, Kevin is among the latter.
As I said earlier on, I have read Kevin’s autobiography and I have my own opinions about it as much as he has an opinion about Graeme Smith, South Africa, transformation and the cricket authorities in this country.
I think Kevin is acting like a little child crying for attention. He dedicates almost the whole chapter to bashing Smith, whom he regards as a complete “muppet”, and insists that he never liked Graeme from day one.
Now, I don’t have a problem with him disliking Smith; it’s a free country and it is not unconstitutional to like or dislike someone.
But what irritates me about Kevin is that every time this dude opens his mouth, he spits venom and doesn’t have anything complimentary to say about South Africa.
Fact is, Kevin was not good enough when he played for Natal and he knows that. He was just a mediocre spinner and from what I can gather, there were many competent players in his position. He didn’t leave South Africa because of quotas; he left because he couldn’t take the competition at that time. He left because he was not good enough at that time, although, I must say, the guy has since developed into a world-class player.
I detest the fact that whenever he opens his mouth, he says something nasty about South Africa. Sure, his father had a fight with Ali Bacher; sure, he was dropped from the Natal team; but Kevin should give everyone a break.
I still wish the guy all the best — that is, when he doesn’t play South Africa. I’m a patriot.
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20 Responses to “Kevin Pietersen: To love or hate him?”
LUX - Great to have you here - more people need to read your missives. One has to admire Pietersen as he has fought his way to the top - well at least in England. He lost me there for a while with his raccoon hairstyle.
It is the Age of the Mercenary in professional sports and the allure of lucre in the Northern Hemisphere has got administrators scrambling. As I was reading your piece on KP and cricket it got me to thinking of the foreign invasion into soccer in the UK and then to observe that only the Olympics and World Cup gets nationals to play alongside each other after playing against each other. It appears the same will apply in cricket and rugby and these games will be open to more dramatic change. What do you suggest be done?
I couldn’t agree more. The reflexive cringe I undergo whenever this fellow opens his mouth is enough to induce an epileptic fit, and I’m no epileptic. He’s a bitter, self-important chop, and that he only has negative things to say about South Africa pisses me off. Don’t get me wrong, all us South Africans have our weaker moments when we complain about our country, but we only complain because we love it so much. It is in no way clear that Pietersen has these affections, and so I’m inclined to conclude that he’s a bitter crybaby and precisely for the reasons Mr Mantambo outlines - he simply wasn’t good enough at the time to get noticed.
I can’t say I love Pietersen. I respect his decision to settle in the UK and play for England. No qualms there. But to have to accompany that with vitriolic criticism of the land of his birth is just puerile. If he wants to lead his new nation with any modicum of success, he’s going to have to do a little growing up.
I agree with KP on one thing and one thing only – and that is his dislike of Graeme Smurf. I admit, I don’t like our captain, and while I laud his latest knock, I am of the opinion that Graeme has put his foot in his mouth more often than not, and that thanks to some minor miracle that saved his career, he avoided the embarrassment of having a lower batting average than Ntini for a spot there 12-18 months ago. He’s been out LBW more often than I’ve been out drinking – and as an ex-art student, that says a lot.
But, Sentiments about smith aside, KP can hit a ball, and hit the ball damn well. As for the rest of him, he is actually a bit of a Muppet himself. An arrogant little boy who thinks he can change the world with a bat and ball. He is the “Pro Footballer” of world cricket, and he probably has aspirations of becoming the “Beckham of the Bat”. I don’t like the guy at all, and ye know, now that I think about it, in attitude he shares a lot with Smith.
As a SAn who lives permanently in the UK (and who was at Edgbaston on Saturday, waving the SA flag amidst the English friends I was with), I find something remarkably small-minded and immature about the attitude displayed by so many SAns to KP.
Personally I think that KP is a bit up his own backside and hold no particular brief for him, but he has done bloody well in getting the captaincy.
However, if a SAn sportsman leaves the sacred soil of SA to play for another country (particularly in cricket or rugby), he is without fail treated as a traitor by the parochial mob of SA sports fans, who also (as the leading post demonstrates) tend to say “Ag well, he wasn’t good enough to play for SA anyway” (clearly bollocks if he is good enough to play for another major country). This is not a new phenomenon either.
I do wish SA sports fans would remove the chips from their shoulders and grow up a bit.
Thanks Tony.
As I said, I have no axe to grind with KP, but my gripe with him is that, he is so obsessed with this country-bashing thing…it’s like someone is paying him to say something bad about SA everytime he speaks.
As I said, I have read Kevin’s book, and, sentiments aside, I think the lad needs to calm down a bit. He is good, and I envy him at the moment, but with his attitude, I wouldn’t have him in the Proteas dressing room.
And, I don’t have a problem with him playing for England - sure he can play for anyone even the Aussies for that matter.
But as I said, my problem is with what comes out of his mouth…I wouldn’t go as far as labelling him a traitor, but he surely is not a patriot in my books.
“And, I don’t have a problem with him playing for England - sure he can play for anyone even the Aussies for that matter.
But as I said, my problem is with what comes out of his mouth…I wouldn’t go as far as labelling him a traitor, but he surely is not a patriot in my books.”
Noted.
As I said, I believe the man is deeply up his own backside. He is a talented cricketer but not a particularly attractive personality.
Regarding his patriotism (or lack thereof), I regard patriotism as a somewhat overrated concept. If he were a “patriot” as the concept is commonly understood, he would probably have probably continued playing in SA.
However, there are many SAns (particularly in the white community - and this stretches back to apartheid years) who DO have a problem with another SAn playing for another country, and regard the person effectively as a traitor.
I should know; I was one of them when I used to live in SA, before I had the benefit of having my horizons expanded by living in the UK.
Perhaps it is because SAns attach a disproportionate importance to sport, to the point where it is central to the well-being of the national psyche.
When I lived in SA, a loss at rugby, cricket or football would have me reaching for the black armband. Now, when SA loses (if I notice), I just shrug my shoulders. It’s just sport, after all.
“Undoubtedly, he is the best cricketer in England and at a time when the country’s national side is branded with mediocrity, with the exception of a few, Kevin is among the latter.”
Richard P, I don´t think it was leaving SA that made him a ´´traitor´´ it was his comments about the country afterwards, the same with a guy like Clyde Rathbone - he was always more of a ´´sell out´´ than a ´´traitor´´, but after that interview with the Aussie media where he slammed South Africa as a country - all they did was make sure that he didn´t leave any friends behind. Sportsmen should be careful to have a certain level of respect to the countries where they grew up, which have more challenges than their new adopted first world homes.Even if you don´t like your country of birth, keep those opinions for the braai place, don´t go shouting them off in interviews or books, as that clearly won´t be making you any friends back home.
Lux Mantambo, good to hear from your. Where have you bean. Well, since you are back, we expect more politics ande I hope you will stay away from them this time around.
Although I clashed with you a lot before, I enjoy your writing.
Richard – not all Saffers who goes to play overseas are branded traitors, assholes or muppets. Only those who make it a big deal and slam SA beause of it. Clyde Rathbone and Muppet Pietersen come to mind. Many a South African cheered and congratulated Adriaan Richter when he went to play for Australia – good on ye mate - and we don’t mourn and call Charl Langeveld a “traitor” now that he’s a Kolpak player, do we? Do we turn our back on Gary Kirsten now that he’s India’s coach?
No mate, being a traitor is not about leaving your country, it’s about badmouthing the place and making an arse of yourself while you do it.
Richard P
You might be overstating that “traitor” bit there.
As far as I know, no one has labelled Strauss a traitor, nor that de Villiers fellow who plays rugby for France. Nor half the American rugby team, with names that read like a teamsheet for Vrystaat in 1985. Or even Roger Federer if you want to take the exercise that far.
In fact, the vitroil reserved for KP is the exception, rather than rule for Saffers playing abroad.
Nice piece, very balanced…he was not good enough that is the truth, but like all so-called truths it can also be reversed. Maybe Kevin should learn to accept his South African cricket failures and also how to celebrate his new revitalised career in England. Maybe then I, a South African will learn to look beyond his shallow confidence, which is acceptable now and then….
Richard P, Not at all, everyone is entitled to their opinion - but I believe you should be respectfull to who you are sharing that opinion with - theres a difference to having an opinion around the braai than to having an opinion that is to be published in a book or shown on a televised interview. If you´re sharing your opinion with your mates, or anyone who is interested, thats one thing, but when you make your opinion an announcement like they did you are making a public statement, and you better be sure you know what you are talking about and don´t care about making enemies when making public statements…
So what happens if I happen to be in the public eye (which I most certainly am not), and some interviewer asks me what I think of what is going down in SA? Do I avoid answering the question? Do I spin some positive answer? Do I am call things the way I see them?
In my own life, SA hardly ever features (politically at least) in my conversations, even with my English wife, and I hardly ever volunteer my views on SA. Nothing irritates me more than the SAn whenwes you get over here.
However, I do feel very negative about what is happening in SA and, when on the rare occasion I am asked for my views by a friend, colleague or stranger, although I will not rant (I confine that to SAn fora like this, where I can get things off my chest), I do make it clear in a sentence or two that I am anything but optimistic about SA’s prospects.
I will never discourage anyone from visiting SA as a tourist (I will let folk know that sensible precautions will by and large avoid crime), but if anyone were to ask me about moving to SA or making a capital investment there, I would at the very least suggest that they might want to think very very carefully about it.
I certainly feel no obligation to put a positive spin on SA.
That makes you uninhibited to speak your mind, which is great if you´re chatting to friends, family or acquaintences but if you´re talking to a mass market like KP or Clyde Rathbone did in the media. I would recommend that you be absolutely certain you know what you are talking about - which i´m not sure that they do.
You can criticise Pietersen as much as you like (I dont really think he cares) but you can never take away from him what he has achieved,particularly since he has screwed our wilting flower children into the ground since he took over the Captaincy of England. As for badmouthing what about all the Hogwash we have to listen to from our Sports Administrators and so called Politicians. Maybe Kevin should stand up and vow to “Kill for England” ??????
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The award winning Luxolo “Lux” Mantambo is one of the leading sports writers in the country.
He is an avid sport fan, whose love for soccer, cricket, boxing and cricket dates back to his roots growing up in the former Transkei. He started his career with the Daily Dispatch who spotted his talent while Lux was still in College.
He has featured on various newspapers, magazines, radio and television. He is renowned for telling it as it is and admits that he is not in the business of making friends, although he realises the need to adopt a mellow attitude at times.
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LUX - Great to have you here - more people need to read your missives. One has to admire Pietersen as he has fought his way to the top - well at least in England. He lost me there for a while with his raccoon hairstyle.
It is the Age of the Mercenary in professional sports and the allure of lucre in the Northern Hemisphere has got administrators scrambling. As I was reading your piece on KP and cricket it got me to thinking of the foreign invasion into soccer in the UK and then to observe that only the Olympics and World Cup gets nationals to play alongside each other after playing against each other. It appears the same will apply in cricket and rugby and these games will be open to more dramatic change. What do you suggest be done?
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