Cricket - It's a funny old game

Cricket - It's a funny old game

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Kevin Pietersen Threatens to Quit Twitter, ‘May Have Tweeted Last Tweet'

This article first appeared on www.thealternativecricketalmanack.com 
on the 10th of August 2012. With thanks to @pavilionopinion.

LONDON - Kevin Pietersen, the mercurial and talismanic England tweeter, has 
announced that he may never tweet for his country again. Speaking at a tense press 
conference held earlier today, Pietersen revealed the “deep, perhaps irreparable, 
divisions” between himself and Twitter, hinting that he may quit the medium entirely to 
spend more time with his family, or “+1s” as he called them.

Pietersen’s high-profile Twitter career has had many peaks and troughs over the years. 

When he burst onto the international tweeting stage back in 2004, he was hailed by 
many as England’s saviour, and heralded as a social media hero to rival Ricky Ponting, 
Jacques Kallis or even the little master himself, Charlie Sheen.

His success continued to go viral the following year, when he nailed three tweets of 
over a hundred characters in quick succession despite being trolled by large numbers 
of South African supporters angry at his defection from Bebo.

His rise was so swift that he was named England Twitter Captain in 2008. However,
 he suffered from a slump in retweets, and he was axed after it was publicly announced
 he had unfollowed England coach Peter Moores.

An acrimonious 2008 for KP™ also witnessed one of the most audacious events in 

Twitter history. Against a hapless pack of New Zealand tweeters, Pietersen unleashed
 the ‘switch hashtag’ to devastating effect. Black Caps captain at the time Daniel Vettori 
was unable to stem the flow of tweets and could only muster the odd ‘LOL’ in reply, 
although Twitter chiefs have subsequently suggested the innovation may be outlawed 
entirely because it is “too entertaining”.

Controversy continued to dog Pietersen in the following years with many former and 

current tweeters critical of his flamboyant writing style. He was left red-faced, when, 
after trying to raise a rapid-fire tweet, he ended up misjudging the end of the sentence 
and was unable to put in a final full-stop, leading to accusations of selfish individualism.

Pietersen’s many supporters nonetheless still came out and backed his style, with @kingKP1987 saying, “That’s just the way he tweets!!!!!! You’d be singing his 

praises if he had nailed it!!!! #getoverit #KPforeva”, although Sky Sports
 commentator @Knightsweats continued to decry KP™’s lack of team ethic.

Pietersen has admitted he has a lot of thinking he needs to do over the next few days.

 “I can’t give any assurances that my next tweet won’t be my last. We’ll just have to see. 
The saddest thing for me is that supporters love reading my Twitter feed,” said the 
controversial star.

Pietersen has already upset the ECB with his decision to use Facebook to express his 
views after ODIs, rather than committing to Twitter for all three forms of the game, 
a move condemned by ECB chairman and leading cheap-suit-wearer Giles Clarke:
 “Kevin’s desire to pick and choose social media tools is unacceptable and all our 
players know that they are either all considered for Twitter, or not at all – that 
Stanford parody account won’t retweet itself.”

Many administrators and commentators believe that Pietersen’s decision may be

 financially motivated after it was noted that he had ‘liked’ a number of posts made by
 the IPL Facebook group and changed his location to ‘Melbourne via Delhi’ on LinkedIn.

Meanwhile, New Zealand captain Ross Taylor said that New Zealand cricket had few

 such problems as most of their players were ‘fully committed’ to honouring their 
contracts with MySpace.

Read more: http://www.thealternativecricketalmanack.com/#ixzz24ALfUpq9

Ross Taylor calls For More Breaks In New Zealand’s Increasingly Congested Off-Season

This article first appeared on www.thealternativecricketalmanack.comon the 1st of August 2012.

ANTIGUA – Black Caps captain Ross Taylor has expressed his displeasure at the
 ICC’s schedule which sees New Zealand’s off-season getting alarmingly busy. 
“I like it that my guys are pretty busy not playing much cricket for most of the year, 
but we have to be careful that fatigue and injury don’t set in. We need to make it that 
we have to find room in the calendar for a game or two here or there to keep everyone 
fresh,” said Taylor, chewing on a piece of long grass.

Taylor had previously been very outspoken over the overlap between the 2013 IPL and 
New Zealand’s tour of England stating, “What is the point of having them both at the 
same time? It means the guys only get one break from not playing instead of two. This 
doesn’t help anyone.”

Former New Zealand supremo Daniel Vettori also struggled with cricket encroaching on 
the Black Caps’ off season and said: “We tried all sorts of things to make it work. We had
 a pretty good rotation policy that meant that we kept a close eye on the guys who had 
had really long breaks from international cricket and we gave them a breather by 
putting them in the squad.” This policy is thought to be responsible for the Test 
appearances made by Tim McIntosh and Aaron Redmond.

Cricket historian Dipak Ward-Square says that New Zealand just have to get used to an 
evolving cricketing landscape. “In the beginning, players were involved in lengthy tours 
that broke up their periods of inactivity nicely and this kept fatigue down. Even in more 
recent times New Zealand could rely on playing nearly five Tests a year, so the gaps
 sorted themselves out. Those frantic days are gone however which means the 
off-season is getting worrying long and there are limits to how much the human body 
can take before it needs to do something.”

Other cricket teams are aware of the potential fatigue crisis facing New Zealand. Indian 
skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said “I know the importance of avoiding off season 
injury and tiredness. The guys are aware of the risks, so we always schedule many tours
 just after our one-week off-season. Besides, if we ever find the team has been on a break 
that is worryingly long we just schedule a match with Sri Lanka.”

Dhoni himself was forced by doctors to play ‘as many as several’ consecutive cricket
 games after a dangerously long three-day cricketing absence.

The New Zealand team are currently relaxing in the West Indies enjoying a rare 
cricket tour that actually includes Test cricket. 

This follows a hectic period lasting many months where New Zealand didn’t tour South 
Africa, England or India, and didn’t host Australia, Sri Lanka or Pakistan.