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.”
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
PINA BRACE: Claudia Pina scored in the 61st and 74th minutes, while Vicky Lopez added one as Spain notched their third victory in a final in the past four tournaments Claudia Pina scored twice and Germany crumbled on Tuesday as Spain retained the UEFA Women’s Nations League title with a 3-0 victory in the final’s second leg. Vicky Lopez also scored after Pina finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with Germany stubbornly hanging on as Spain had done in the first leg, a 0-0 draw in Kaiserslautern on Friday. Spain were without three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, who broke her leg in training on Sunday. Lopez took Bonmati’s place and Spain dominated from the start. Esther Gonzalez swept the ball just past the post and Mariona Caldentey forced a save
RSS