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05.08.08

The Times - Calling shots is harder than playing them

Published by Shane Warne

Kevin Pietersen now stands at a crossroads in his life as well as his career. Being England captain will take up more time than he can imagine and he will need to reconsider his whole outlook. Within the game worldwide he has a reputation as being an individual, but to be successful a leader must be a giver not a taker – to his team, fringe players, sponsors, the public, everyone.

From today onwards it will be Kevin Pietersen’s England. He will probably like the sound of that, but responsibility goes way beyond sorting out the field, the batting order and the bowling changes. He will be the front man for the team, the spokesman when things go wrong as well as right. He is representing England all the time, on and off the field, in everything he does.

Captaincy can be all-consuming. Think of all the team meetings, planning, organising, functions, selection talks and the one-to-ones with players that go on outside cricket time. One of the most important aspects of captaincy is the ability to listen.

With everything going on it is easy to neglect your own game. Kevin has always been meticulous about his fitness and preparation, but he cannot be so single minded any more.

What is the most important thing as a person? To be respected or liked? Respect is more important because the only way to get respect is to earn it. That is by the way you go about things as a leader, the way you conduct yourself with the group. Pietersen now has the opportunity.

Image is very important to him. He cares about the way he is portrayed. He wants to be the Main Man, and now the whole perception of the England side will be down to the way he goes about the job. Hopefully his captaincy will be similar to his batting: positive, instinctive and entertaining.

I like to think I know him better than most and understand him well as a cricketer. At one stage we were good mates, although I haven’t spoken to him for a year or so. I’m not sure why the friendship has waned a little bit. But I will try to leave a message to say congratulations, well done and good luck. I hope he does really well.

When we were at Hampshire we spent a lot of time talking about the game. He impressed me straight away. He picked my brain lots and I think he listened for the first year or two. He wasn’t around very much after that. As a cricketer I always thought he was something special. He had that X factor about him. Still has.

Early in 2005 it seemed as though Ian Botham and myself were running his PR campaign. As captain of Hampshire I saw how he was playing and thought that England couldn’t afford to be without him. People asked whether I was just pumping one of our own, but he was a once in a while batsman – not quite once in a lifetime (yet).

One captain for all formats is the best way forward for England. Rob Key would have been a left-field choice, but I think he could do well at No3 if he was given a chance and I’ve been impressed with his captaincy at Kent. His name must crop up in selection regularly. They could have done a lot worse than appoint him.

It came as a real shock to me that Michael Vaughan decided to resign. I thought that the three players who were key to England having a chance of regaining the Ashes next summer were Vaughan as captain, Andrew Flintoff as an all-rounder and Pietersen as a world-class batsman. Two of those roles have now changed.

Vaughan was the best England captain I faced in my time. Knowing him as a friend I feel for him at the moment. It all looked very emotional. You do not resign because you lose a series; that just makes you more determined to win the next one. He must have been thinking about this for a while with the decision weighing on his mind.

What made him so effective? I think it was the balance he managed to strike between being one of the boys and that little bit aloof. Sometimes you have to give a mate a kick up the backside. You don’t want to do it, but you know it needs to be done.

Vaughan made the right calls and retained the respect of his team. If I was Kevin I would be chewing his ear off for advice about the English set-up once Vaughan is back from his break. Pietersen needs to stamp his own style of play on the team as soon as possible.

The good thing for him is that the South Africa series is lost. What happens at the Brit Oval on Thursday does not matter in the big scheme. It is a really good opportunity to salvage a bit of pride, but I’m surprised that Ravi Bopara has come into the squad. Although he is a very good first-class player, he doesn’t strike me as having the temperament for Test level.

My choice would have been Owais Shah. He has as much talent as anybody but, in my opinion, he has underachieved over his career. He is probably the best player in England outside the Test team. Again, there are questions about his temperament, but this could have been the time to chuck him in there to find out. 

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