This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Kevin Pietersen-ECB controversy: Geoff Boycott defends Pietersen
Boycott said that he was not blindly sticking up for Pietersen.
10 October 2014 • 11:09 AM
Related articles
Oct 10, 2014
Former England cricketer Geoff Boycott weighed in on the Kevin Pietersen-ECB controversy, when he said the England Cricket Board (ECB) had started the “farce” with Pietersen, and should therefore not try to take the moral high ground.
In his column in telegraph.co.uk, Boycott said, “Kevin is a sinner but he has been sinned against by the ECB. There are rights and wrongs on both sides and whatever Pietersen’s faults, the ECB is not blameless.”
Boycott went on to say that he was disgusted when an ECB document, which was supposedly “strictly confidential,” was leaked to the media. “The points it contained were pathetic and it was a crass idea to put together such a report to try to trash Kevin. It stinks,” said the Yorkshireman.
Boycott went on to defend Pietersen when he said, “whoever dreamt that up is not fit to lead English cricket. Kevin has been a fantastic batsman for England. He thrilled millions and helped win matches for the England team that enabled some people at the ECB to bask in reflected glory. Yes Kevin was awkward, difficult, different and at times his own worst enemy. But his record and his performances do not deserve a character assassination. The ECB should be dignified about it all and not try to belittle him.”
Boycott said that he hoped that the ECB would look into how the document was released, and that if it was a deliberate leak by someone within the ECB, they would be fired.
Boycott went on to say, “I am not blindly sticking up for Kevin. But most very talented sportsmen are like diamonds. They sparkle and glitter and light up the game. They catch the eye and enchant the public. But all diamonds are flawed. They are not perfect and you have to learn to love and nurture a diamond. They have not done that with Kevin.”