Kevin Pietersen offers answer to leading question

Of all the contenders for the World Twenty20, England were the only side not to be captained by their established leader. Choice of locum for Andrew Strauss became an issue before the squad announcement and, after being knocked out under Paul Collingwood by West Indies on Monday night, it will be subject of similar speculation again before the next tournament, in the Caribbean, starting in April 2010.
Collingwood was a reluctant captain, saying only weeks before his appointment that he would need a lot of persuading to take on the role after his resignation last year. He has now declined to commit to the post for the future. He did not enjoy a good tournament, either with bat or armband, and alternatives are sure to be considered as part of the debrief.
Kevin Pietersen, the obvious replacement, would love another crack at some point despite his public humiliation at the hands of the ECB in January, when he pre-empted his sacking by resigning. Although he let it be known that a return would be too soon while the selectors deliberated for the present event, lingering anger may have calmed by the time that West Indies play host.
It is one thing to answer a hypothetical question with a show of no interest, quite another to reject a real approach by Geoff Miller, the national selector. Could Pietersen resist an offer couched in terms that his country needs him, especially when the job occupies only three weeks of what should be fun, rather than the whole package with its stresses and strains? He can leave that for Strauss.
Miller and his colleagues rejected an outsider in Robert Key this time because they were unsure that he could justify his place in the team. So, other than Pietersen, alternatives to Collingwood are sparse, if there at all. Stuart Broad, 23 next week, is too callow for now. James Anderson has matured impressively over the past year, but it is a big step from leading the bowlers to leading the team.
According to Adam Wheatley, Pietersen's agent, captaincy is “not at the forefront of his client's mind at the moment”. That is good to hear; the priority for Pietersen is to continue to build up fitness after Achilles tendon trouble and then to score stacks of runs in the Ashes. Perhaps, like Collingwood, who was unaware when England next play a 20-over international, Pietersen is not up to speed with commitments beyond the coming months.
The Australia series will dominate thinking between now and late August. On Monday, England announce an extended squad of perhaps 16 or 17 for a training camp later in the week, which may prove to be the last chance of a recall for Michael Vaughan. It effectively reproduces the start of an overseas tour, especially given the three-day warm-up match against Warwickshire from July 1, a week before the start of the first npower Test in Cardiff.
At some point, though, the selectors must return to Twenty20 strategy. The middle order clearly needs beefing up and Collingwood's role as nudger at No5 must be in jeopardy with Luke Wright, if he continues to open with Ravi Bopara, offering sup-port to the seam bowlers. England cannot afford to field a team with James Foster as high as No6 and Graeme Swann at 7, as they did two days ago.
But it runs deeper than a tinker here or there. The underlying principle that Test players can adapt to any format must be re-evaluated. Twenty20 needs certain skills, yet England were eliminated with four specialists from the squad in Graham Napier, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Key and Eoin Morgan out of the side. Collingwood said that England needed to be brave. In the end, they were too cautious.
Source:The times