“Me and Kev always hated each other” - Graeme Swann on his dislike for Kevin Pietersen
Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann recently revealed that he hated former skipper Kevin Pietersen. Describing the latter as “different” from everyone else he’s ever met in his life, Swann admitted that the feeling of hatred between the two was mutual.
Swann (44) played 60 Tests, 79 ODIs, and 39 T20Is for England between 2000 and 2013, claiming 410 international wickets.
Speaking on The Rig Biz Podcast, the former cricketer opened up on the infamous incident of Pietersen sending texts to the opposition during South Africa's 2012 tour of England.
Describing it as a “soap opera”, he went on to hit out at the South African-born cricketer. Recalling the incident, Swann said:
"We found out two or three days before because we'd all seen the texts. The most bizarre (sequence of events), you know you're living in a bit of a soap opera. I mean Kev's different, let's face it, I have no hard feelings ... but Kev's different to everyone else I've ever met in my life and he knows he's different and he says he's different."
Swann added that since 2012 were the "early days of the Erikson 350 flip", no one took pictures of the messages. As a result, the England cricket board couldn't sack him. He, however, claimed that a number of meetings took place before Pietersen was reinstated into the team. Swann elaborated:
"We had to have a meeting in a golf course in Oxford ... we were all called there one by one, there was conflict resolution expert there from the business world ... we all had to go one at a time and say if we had any beef with Kevin.
"He (Kevin) was there, Alistair Cook was there and Andy Flower, I went both barrels because I thought I f--king can't believe I've got to this on my day off and Kev was very defensive and said 'I had to fly back from South Africa for this', well it is your f--king fault Kevin.
"I'm not sure how everyone else went, after the meeting Alistair Cook rang me up and said Jesus Christ you did go both barrels. I felt I could because me and Kev never liked each other anyway, a lot of other people either like him a bit or got on with him but me and Kev always hated each other."
Graeme Swann has opened up about his relationship with Kevin Pietersen 👀 https://t.co/rnpmoPWwOa
In a career marred by controversies, Pietersen played 104 Tests, 136 ODIs, and 37 T20Is. He is widely regarded as one of the finest batters to have played for England.
Pietersen accused his teammates of bullying: Graeme Swann
During the podcast, Swann also claimed that Pietersen accused his teammates of bullying. Trashing his former teammate, the cricketer-turned-commentator said:
"There's a batsman and bowler thing in cricket, and batsman can't ever accept their own failures and hold their hand up when they f--k up in the field and say sorry.
"The batsman called a meeting and said the bowlers are being mean to us and shouting at us when we misfield ... Kev then used that to say he was being bullied, I mean Kev is 6'4", South African, could've easily got in the Springbok team and he said he got bullied. I mean it's absolute [rubbish]…. but people will believe someone if they have a sob story."
I'd struggle to take sides on a Swann vs Pietersen argument, as I still can't decide which I dislike most.
Pietersen was dropped from the national team after the disastrous 2013-14 Ashes during which Australia blanked England 5-0.