Former England captain Alastair Cook has said he felt ‘a little bit let down’ by the England Cricket Board over the way Kevin Pietersen’s controversial sacking was handled in 2014.
Kevin Pietersen had become the batting mainstay of England’s Test team in the first-half of his career but the turn of this decade saw him getting involved in several spats with his England teammates like the texting scandal with Andrew Strauss in 2012. He was constantly accused of having a bad influence on the younger members of the England dressing room and a bad attitude towards the team environment. And he finally faced the axe after England disastrous Ashes tour of 2013-14 where they were blanked 5-0 by Michael Clarke’s men. The 36-year old, who had represented England in 104 Tests, has been out of the team since then.
As expected, the turn of events had angered several section of fans while celebrity fan Piers Morgan described Cook as “a repulsive little weasel”. But Cook, who resigned from captaincy earlier this week, said that the whole chapter was not handled well by the ECB.
Speaking with Nasser Hussain at Lord’s on Tuesday (February 7), Cook said: “It was obviously a big part of my captaincy. I felt like it wasn’t handled particularly well from the ECB. I was the lightning rod for it. Every person thought it was my decision and I felt I bore the brunt of that, unfairly in my personal opinion.”
The 32-year old also admitted to having played a part in making the decision but insisted that the decision was not solely his.
“I didn’t have the final trigger. I felt I was the only person who made the decision. I felt a little bit let down by the ECB in that one period where they left me out to dry a little bit,” he added.
When asked if his captaincy stint with the Three Lions would be remembered as much for the Pietersen controversy as for his two Ashes series wins, Cook said:
“I don’t think it will… but that’s all gone now. It’s part and parcel of the challenges of being captain. I can’t say now I have any regrets. I’ve tried – whether I’ve got it right or wrong – to do what’s best for English cricket at that time.”