For the decade after his England debut in the technicolour summer of 2005, Kevin Pietersen was the most compelling cricketer in the country. He was both the most fun to watch on the field and the most entertaining to follow off it. He has been a much less conspicuous figure in retirement. Lots of golf, some animal conservation and occasional stints as a broadcaster is a small footprint for such a big personality. It is notable that while the ECB has sought to wring as much as it can out of its 2005 Ashes-winning team \u2013 Andrew Strauss and Ashley Giles both held the role of director of cricket; Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell and Marcus Trescothick have all been hired as coaches \u2013 Pietersen has remained\u00a0persona non grata. The announcement that he is to mentor England\u2019s white-ball teams until the end of the 50-over World Cup next year is a welcome return.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everything younger readers need to know about KP is contained in a single anecdote from Andrew Strauss\u2019s autobiography. Strauss first saw Pietersen the summer after he moved to England. Pietersen scored an imperious 165 for Nottinghamshire against Strauss\u2019s Middlesex. The Middlesex wicketkeeper, David Nash, tried to unsettle Pietersen by calling him a \u2018doos\u2019. This word has a bland literal meaning in Afrikaans but can also be deeply insulting slang. Pietersen, agitated, walked off mid-over to complain to the square-leg umpire. Nash was silenced. Strauss was impressed by Pietersen\u2019s batting and his refusal to be bullied. The moment also revealed Pietersen\u2019s emotional nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the ECB picked Pietersen for England, it wanted all of the brilliant batting, some of his \u2018main character energy\u2019 and none of his histrionics. But these traits could not be disentangled. With Pietersen it was the whole package or nothing at all. In previous generations, the ECB would probably have had its way. But Pietersen\u2019s career coincided perfectly with the arrival of the IPL and the powers that the tournament conferred on leading cricketers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pietersen was much more clear-eyed about the IPL than the ECB. He also loved India and its energy. Where Pietersen saw the future of cricket, the ECB perceived a threat, and one it thought it could resist. It repeatedly thwarted Pietersen\u2019s ambitions to play full seasons of the tournament. Other England players quietly acquiesced. Pietersen did not and, like David Nash, the ECB underestimated his unwillingness to follow orders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The passage of time means it is easy to forget just how toxic the relationship between the ECB and Pietersen became in 2012. A series against South Africa usually brought out the best in Pietersen, but on the first day of the second test at Headingley he was so disengaged that Strauss sent a group of senior players to shake KP out of his torpor. Pietersen described feeling \u2018lower than a snake\u2019s belly\u2019 during the series. KP was convinced that the satirical \u2018KP Genius\u2019 account on Twitter was being run from inside the England dressing room.<\/p>\n
Yet on the third day he rallied to bash Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis to all corners of the ground during a merciless 149. Two weeks later, the press were tipped off that he had been exchanging text messages with South African players, including tips on how to get Strauss out. Pietersen denied it (Strauss said he didn\u2019t believe Pietersen shared tactical information) but the controversy was enough for the ECB. He was dropped for the final test and within 18 months his international career was over.<\/p>\n
It is excellent news that the ECB has now brought him back into the fold. Pietersen understands the benefit of mentorship. He has given the credit for his best-ever innings, his 186 against India in Mumbai in 2012, to Rahul Dravid. Pietersen contacted Dravid prior to the series, asking for help against spin. He received a long email in response. Pietersen practiced and practiced until he had absorbed Dravid\u2019s advice and never played better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pietersen was also an innovator. Against New Zealand in 2008, he was facing medium-pacer Scott Styris. As Styris was preparing to release the ball, Pietersen switched his grip so he was effectively batting left-handed and hit him over what had become square leg and then long-on. It was so audacious that the MCC was forced into a debate over whether it was legal. (KP\u2019s response was typically forthright, describing the debate as \u2018absolutely stupid\u2019.) I\u2019m not sure that any other player could have played as he did during his Ashes debut at Lord\u2019s in 2005. His first innings 57 rescued England from potential humiliation at 21-5 and showed his teammates that the tourists were fallible.<\/p>\n
It is another chance for Pietersen to compete with his cricket country in his homeland<\/p>\n