ECB Chairman denies making promises to Kevin Pietersen
New ECB Chairman Colin Graves has denied making any promises to Kevin Pietersen following some accusations against him after the new director of Cricket Andrew Strauss literally shut the doors on KP’s return in England colours.
"If he plays county cricket and scores lots of runs, they can't ignore him," said Graves sometime back to The Telegraph, because of which it is widely believed that KP abandoned his IPL contract to play county cricket for Surrey. And with KP who had to pull out of his short IPL stint due to an injury claiming that the ECB has misled him, Graves has responded with an official statement:
"In the past few days my integrity has been called into question, something I can't accept," he said. "Throughout my business career and my years at Yorkshire, integrity has been my watchword. It governs everything I do and is an important part of what I bring to the ECB. So it saddens me that what was a private conversation with Kevin in March has been used to do just that.
"Back then, when we talked on the phone, Kevin asked if I thought his England career had ended in the right manner following the last Ashes series in Australia. I agreed that nobody particularly emerged with much credit from the whole episode, particularly given his achievements for England.
"Kevin felt he had a lot to offer and was interested in a dialogue with the ECB, sorting things out and working together. He would love to play for England again but he wanted to contribute, whether as a player or not.
"I didn't make any promises. There were no guarantees that if he chose to exit his IPL contract, play county cricket and score runs he would be selected for England. And I said he should make any decision on his future on that basis."
"Despite everything, he can work with us to rebuild the relationship and make a further contribution to English cricket," Graves said.