Kevin Pietersen is to face disciplinary action over his foul-mouthed Twitter tirade following being dropped from the England Twenty20 and one-day squads.
Pietersen, never before axed when fit for England duty in a four-year international career, pre-empted Tuesday’s official announcement by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that he had been left out for the upcoming limited-overs matches against Pakistan by several hours, with a post on social networking site Twitter.
That would not have endeared the South Africa-born batsman to the England management in any event, but the 30-year-old Pietersen, man of the tournament during England’s victorious World Twenty20 campaign in the Caribbean earlier this year, told his followers: “Done for rest of summer!! Man of the World Cup T20 and dropped from the T20 side too. It’s a fuck up.”
England coach Andy Flower said on Friday he had accepted Pietersen’s explanation it was an honest mistake — the former England captain thought he was texting a small number of friends.
“He has [spoken to me]. He says he made a bit of a mistake and I’ll take him at his word, but still there’ll be a disciplinary hearing about that, because we can’t have situations like that happening,” Flower said after an England training session in Cardiff.
Earlier this season, Yorkshire’s Azeem Rafiq was banned for one month following the former England under-19 captain’s axing. However, there appeared to be more deliberation in Rafiq’s remarks and Flower said it was unfair to compare the two cases.
“I didn’t connect it at all with that, but yes, it is important to be consistent,” said Flower, when considering both incidents.
The ECB have been reported to be considering a Twitter ban, but Flower said: “We want to allow the players to use that form of the media, if that’s what they choose to, but with that freedom comes responsibility, so they’ve got to use it responsibly.”
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