There was time for Kevin Pietersen to hit one more huge six, struck with massive assurance into the stand close to the Surrey dressing room, and to pass 350, before the Surrey No11 Matthew Dunn inside-edged a short delivery from Ben Raine into his thigh pad, and thence into the hands of short leg.
Pietersen smiled, walked up to the momentarily crestfallen Dunn and shook him by the hand: after all, together they had added 139 for Surrey’s final wicket in their match against Leicestershire, of which Dunn’s share had been five. Pietersen also shook hands with all the Leicestershire fielders before walking off with bat raised high, having scored 355 not out from 396 balls, including 36 fours and 15 sixes.
It is reasonable to wonder what was in his mind as that last six sailed high over long-on. In hitting the first 14 the previous day, Pietersen might have thought he was doing enough to convince the new England director of cricket, Andrew Strauss, that his form was good enough to justify his being recalled to the international fold. He did think it, in fact, telling the media as much after play, but when he struck that last maximum, Pietersen knew that even if he had scored 400, or even 500, it would not have been enough, because Strauss had told him so when they met on Monday evening.
From that point of view, then, his innings was pointless, but as far as Surrey were concerned it was anything but: it meant they led on first innings by 265, a deficit which meant that although Leicestershire responded with real spirit, they were just 45 ahead at the close, with five wickets remaining.
For the Surrey director of cricket, Alec Stewart, Pietersen had been “let down” by the ECB after Strauss said it was a matter of trust, or more precisely the lack of it, which meant Pietersen would not be recalled.
“The word ‘trust’ is a huge word: how long does it take to regain trust?” asked Stewart. “I do think [Strauss] may have contradicted himself a little bit, in saying on one hand Kevin won’t be playing at all this summer, effectively finishing his England career, but then offering Kevin an advisory role in one-day cricket. I’m not sure how those two marry up, but again Andrew has to be comfortable with that.
“And again with ‘trust’ I think Kevin is entitled to feel let down a little bit by the ECB following the comments of the incoming chairman, Colin Graves, when he said six or seven weeks or so ago the slate had been wiped clean, to find himself a county, score runs and he’d be considered, or words to that effect. Which Kevin has done: he’s had two phone conversations with the incoming chairman, so it wasn’t a misinterpretation just from that Gary Richardson [BBC Radio] Sunday morning sports show, and Kevin has done that, he’s just got 355 not out, and he wants to play for England.
“I just felt perhaps it could be done differently, by saying: ‘At the moment the middle order is playing exceptionally well, we’re backing these guys, the Ballances, the Roots, the Bells, etcetera etcetera, but while you are still playing for Surrey while still scoring runs, you are staking a great claim’.
“This way I think they’ve just gone bang, you’re definitely not playing, nothing has changed, the ECB don’t trust you. I’d like to know who at the ECB doesn’t trust him, because from when that decision was made 14, 15, 16 months ago, there is now a new chairman, new chief executive, new director of cricket and there now will be a new coach, so which individual or individuals don’t trust him?”
The current Test captain, Alastair Cook, for one, thought Strauss himself made it clear he has neither forgiven nor forgotten Pietersen’s infamous text to England’s South African opponents, describing his then skipper in less than flattering terms. The estrangement, as Strauss called it, seems irreparable – however many runs Pietersen scores.
