Pietersen: England were distracted

Eurosport - Sun, 02 Nov 14:59:00 2008

Kevin Pietersen said England failed to look beyond "the nonsense" after being humbled at the hands of the Stanford Superstars.

Stanford Superstars - 0

A dismal batting display saw England bowled out for 99, while a Caribbean side inspired by the heavy-hitting Chris Gayle made light work of the target to get their hands on the $20million winner-takes-all prize pot.

An ECB review of the competition, for which England have signed a five-year contract, is imminent and Pietersen is eager for any repeat visits to the Caribbean to be more professionally handled.

Much has been made of the cash on offer, as well as the conduct of Sir Allen Stanford himself following his on-camera flirtation with some of the players' wives.

"During the week we haven't been concentrating on the cricket, there's been a lot of nonsense during the week and we haven't concentrated on the cricket," Pietersen told Sky Sports.

"We should be focusing on the cricket. A lot of nonsense happened this week and I've just said to the lads that the key to what we do is concentrating solely on our cricket.

"Everything that has gone on this week, in terms of what has been done in the cricket and everything around it... it's been a week of other things.

"What we have to focus on now is batting, bowling and fielding. We're going to have to buy into the competition a lot more.

"We need to make sure we are 100% focused on winning games of cricket for England and leave the other things to other people."

Stanford Superstars assistant coach Roger Harper was full of praise for a side that contained a mixture of experienced West Indies stars and unheralded prospects from domestic cricket.

"It's difficult to say what it means but it's a fantastic achievement," he told Sky Sports.

"As a group it means a lot to us. It showed if you come together and work hard for a common focus, you can achieve anything.

"When we came together there were a few questions but as time passed and we put in the hard work, we all believed it was possible."

Harper also stressed Stanford's cash must not be an end in itself and should be used as the launchpad for a rejuvenation of the game in the West Indies.

"What I would seriously hope is that we learn from this as a team and as an organisation and that we build on this," he said.

"It's got to be the start of something. The players have a big cheque to collect but we need to use this to move West Indies cricket to another level."

Stanford hailed the success of the Superstars and expects it to be followed by a resurgence for the West Indies team on the international stage.

The Texan told Sky Sports: "Three years ago we started an experiment to get young kids who were going elsewhere back into cricket and to reward the best players in the Caribbean for their professional skills.

"We're doing it, the results are here tonight. We will beat anybody in the world with this team. We are back, we're going to take the world again. This programme is working."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

Comment 30 - 49 of 69

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. While agreeing 20/20 is more show biz than Cricket if­ Stanfords Circus can recreate the likes of another­ Garfield Sobers,Viv Richards or Mikey Holding,to name­ but three, it is well worth while! Couple of points to­ note
    Most of the England batsmen were clean bowld.. no ­ doubtful LBW's or caught behinds!
    The Harmison ­ caught behind con with Prior was exposed by­ referral--3 South Afrian batsmen in the recent one­ dayers did not get this luxury.
    Agree Harmison will­ soon get 'homesick' again on Indian tour!

    From GEOFF S, on Sun 2 Nov 11:43AM

  2. well done to the west indies always were and always­ will be a force in top class cricket england take note­ of the f b i poor preparation proceeds particuarly poor­ performance and why is beckham still playing for­ england

    From C, on Sun 2 Nov 11:40AM

  3. Quote by saxon40: "since most of us can't­ remember the West Indies winning anything..."

    Er,­ wrong: I'm in my 30s but I distinctly remember the­ West Indies as the mightiest force in cricket from the­ mid-70s to the 90s. They were so far above everyone­ else in this period that odds were routinely only­ offered on how badly the opposition would lose!

    Now,­ speaking as constructively as I can, English cricket­ needs to learn 3 things:
    1. Talk (and this goes for­ English sport in general) does not equal action;­ there's too much bloody talk! Trite soundbites­ spouted by various players should be replaced by extra­ hours' training.
    2. Admit we're not close to­ being the best (because ...erm... we're NOT) and­ then start doing something about it - like training,­ and talking less!
    3. Lose the mindset - if we're­ serious about winning - that it's the taking part­ that matters, for heaven's sake! This is not a­ typically English mentality: it's a loser's­ mentality! I'm so bored of the average Henmans,­ Flintoffs, footballers etc. constantly saying we can­ learn something from losing. Check Lewis Hamilton and­ Andy Murray for examples of the winning mentality. No,­ they're not universally liked but that's not­ the point for them; when they've collected their­ plaudits while leaving all the nice guys eating their­ dust, then it'll be time to be personable.

    To sum­ up: eloquence, mediocrity, and gentility do not win the­ big prizes. Softies, sit up and take note - don't­ play if you can't play the big points. And­ whatever happens, bloody talk less! Dammit!!!

    From Cliff K, on Sun 2 Nov 11:27AM

  4. You've just been reported, david.881.

    I'd­ change your name to david.666.

    It's more­ appropriate.

    From angeli01us, on Sun 2 Nov 11:21AM

  5. whats wrong with my last opinion which has not shown on­ here yet

    From GEORGE W, on Sun 2 Nov 11:19AM

  6. ha ha knew they could not do it if it were in bothams­ day they would have been slaughtered, the team nowadays­ think they are good but they are not they are @#$%

    From GEORGE W, on Sun 2 Nov 11:15AM

  7. Congratulations Mr Stanford and Stanford Superstars aka­ West Indies..its been long overdue...my condolences to­ England..Its always been fallacy that West Indians­ "yutes" are more interested playing­ Basketball or football than Cricket.

    $20 mill aside­ let's hope this is a start of brand new era for­ West Indies cricket...where we play our own style of­ positive, entertaining, Calypso Cricket, where we like­ to pitch the ball up hard when we bowl...and whack the­ ball out of the ground when we bat !..none of this­ boring front-footed business...Isn't that what­ sport is about, having fun ??

    From Sean, on Sun 2 Nov 10:59AM

  8. great news england losing the english playboys should­ be concentrated on cricket not holidaymaking well done­ reggae boys

    From John, on Sun 2 Nov 10:56AM

  9. I'm English but I live in Greece...the overall­ opinion here is that the Greeks cannot believe the way­ the English fans treat their various national sports­ teams. The Greeks lose much more, have less quality on­ a world scale, and yet although the fans get­ upset...they do not "rubbish" their own­ countrymen. This really is an English­ characteristic/phenomenon which I must say (whatever­ the sports results) I am ashamed of.

    From rogerthegoodwin, on Sun 2 Nov 10:55AM

  10. who cares? it was a farce from the outset.entertaining­ my arse!!!!.let's get back to what really­ matters,test cricket.you sold your souls to the­ financial devil,now get back in the nets and learn to­ play CRICKET.fools

    From billythekid123, on Sun 2 Nov 10:51AM

  11. who gives a @#$%... its only cricket!!!... how do­ people get from a 20-20 cricket to topics like­ immigration and ultra nationalism!!! haha
    were @#$% at­ cricket... average at football and good at cycling...­ the trouble is we've this notion that cos we're­ england we should win all the time, truth is we're­ not actually that good.
    Well done to whoever won and­ unlucky if you lost, im off down the pub.

    From , on Sun 2 Nov 10:31AM

  12. Thank you very much Soundstorm for your excellent­ comments.

    As a female (cricket fan), I am utterly sick­ to death of ordinary Englishmen having to be the­ world's apologists.

    If I read any more abuse­ towards my fellow countrymen, I will - on my behalf,­ your's and others - ensure that a strong, formal­ complaint is lodged to Yahoo or whoever is responsible­ and that action is taken against the­ perpetrators.

    Edgemru - you are warned.

    As requested,­ this cricket forum should be restricted to just that,­ and as cricket is a peaceful sport, so should this­ comment board be.

    If you can't manage that,­ Edgemru, I don't think you belong.

    From angeli01us, on Sun 2 Nov 10:30AM

  13. I`m happy england got stuffed, they`re nothing but a­ bunch of cosseted under achievers. Also, can anyone­ tell me how many of the england team are actually­ english, it`s a farce. KP Pietersen, IR Bell, MJ Prior,­ OA Shah, A Flintoff, PD Collingwood, SR Patel, LJ­ Wright, SCJ Broad, GP Swann, SJ Harmison you had your­ chance to make a life changing amount of money and you­ blew it in the most glorious fashion hahaha you bunch­ of losers

    From SHARP AS A NEEDLE, on Sun 2 Nov 10:30AM

  14. Ha Ha Ha no ferrari lads, get back to respecting­ cricket!!

    From maguirejj2, on Sun 2 Nov 10:26AM

  15. England cricket,England football...whats the diffs?

    No­ diffs,lots of promise and hype,no guts and glory!

    From skyaerialsandsatellites, on Sun 2 Nov 10:22AM

  16. p1ss poor

    From Harry, on Sun 2 Nov 10:09AM

  17. What a magnificent irony it is that Harmison led the­ way in our thumping.The scale of the defeat is the best­ thing that could have happened to end this sorry farce.­ No doubt Harmison will start to feel those pangs of­ homesickness soon and crawl off home to again show he­ has no intention of earning the vast sums of money he­ has been paid on a central contract over thesae last­ few years.

    From Ian H, on Sun 2 Nov 10:05AM

  18. I think the winner takes all concept of sport is a joke­ and 20:20 cricket isn't my thing. However, you must­ take seriously any game where you're a)­ representing your country b) playing for that amount of­ money. If not, don't play.

    England's­ performance was a joke - they should be ashamed of­ themselves. Poor preparation, worse application and no­ guts. The players shamed the three lions on their­ shirts.

    The ECB got in bed with Stanford for money­ and in particular the fear of losing top players to the­ India Premier League so went into this with their eyes­ open.

    I know Antigua very well and have recently just­ come back from there. Say what you like about the game,­ for all the tasteless razamatazz , the Stanford 20:20­ was much better organised than the recent rubbish World­ Cup and at least had some benefit for the locals too.­

    Does this win mark the return of the West Indies as­ a top cricketing (i.e. test) nation as some posters­ suggest? Absolutely not! The WICB are too incompetent­ for that to ever happen - they need to look to­ Stanford's team for some organisational ideas.

    From bill b, on Sun 2 Nov 9:55AM

  19. Kwasia well done west indies we hold faith in you show­ england how its done they might learn something lol

    From DVL in London, on Sun 2 Nov 9:51AM

  20. PLEASE YAHOO find some way of limiting these comments­ to the relevent subject instead of allowing it to­ become a stage for self opinioned racists, sexists and­ ignorant self proclaimed bigots. Thank You

    From Steve J, on Sun 2 Nov 9:50AM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account