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The Stanford meltdown
I was always uneasy with Stanford deal - Pietersen
Cricinfo staff
February 22, 2009
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The tremors of the Stanford scandal continue to be felt with Kevin Pietersen claiming that he had lost money on nullified contracts with the Antigua-based billionaire. It has been reported that Pietersen had signed a productive two-year deal to be an "ambassador" for Stanford.
Last year, as the Stanford series neared green light, Pietersen said he was excited by the money on offer in Twenty20 cricket, and likened it to winning the lottery. Speaking to the News of the World, Pietersen has now said he was always uneasy with the ECB's deal with Stanford that made it seem as if "the England team had been sold."
"I was an ambassador for Stanford - a player face - but that contract has gone," said Pietersen. "I was very uncomfortable with the whole Stanford thing."
Pietersen's deal with Stanford came with an option to promote the Stanford Twenty20 matches in Antigua and the Stanford-sponsored international quadrangular Twenty20 events in England for another three years.
"It was not that I was captain at the time, it was the uncomfortable situation of everybody thinking the England team had been sold. With the financial state of the world, people were talking about money instead of cricket," said Pietersen, who has been one of England's most vocal advocates of the team's participation in the Twenty20 game.
"Those kinds of things just didn't seem right to me, so it's not a bad thing we are not going to have that tournament anymore."
The ECB terminated all contracts with Stanford this week.
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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It will always be like this. Whenever something big happens people try to get some publicity from what they say. Writer also have to get something o give us to read. Somebody got a breaking story so we can read. Even if KP had raised concerns before that would not have been the news , but instead the focus would have been on the "BIG BOX" contract he signed.
Posted by Zeid on (February 23 2009, 14:12 PM GMT)Poor KP....he wants to have his cake and eat it. At the time of Sanford deliberations, he was all for it...now that the whole thing has fallen flat..he has no guts to admit that his calculations were wrong. Perhaps, its our media which has hyped him sky high!!
Posted by GH13 on (February 23 2009, 11:26 AM GMT)"... always uneasy with Stanford deal" What an incredible hypocrite this bloke is - he'd have taken the million if England had won, he signed a deal to be Stanford's "ambassador" and he'll happily take the IPL dollars. Let's face - it Pietersen cares only about Pieterson - and nothing he can say to the contrary will convince me of otherwise.
Posted by delboy on (February 23 2009, 10:24 AM GMT)Pietersen is a David Cameron character always looking to make a drama out of a crisis. Headline grabbing. As an 'ambassador' he should be asking personal, moral questions not thinking the England team is being sold. If I follow his argument he then hoped to benefit on multiple fronts. The flip side is he loses on both. Greed apart he could hedge his bets and stick with the England deal alone.
Posted by StJohn on (February 23 2009, 10:14 AM GMT)This constant moaning about the chance to have won millions of dollars is a bit rich, no pun intended. KP must earn a hefty amount each year anyway, with endorsements, etc, even before the IPL. So this discomfort about the credit crunch sounds strange. Global economic problems weren't caused by cricket, or Stanford (despite recent allegations). And if you're earning so much anyway, why moralise about the chance to earn even more? Does KP feel as uncomfortable about the IPL jackpot? If you feel that strongly, just go out & win it and donate it to charity (as if they would!). This strange discomfort with playing a sport well and being well-paid for it is a hangover from the woolly English sporting tradition of amateurism. I can't imagine many other nationalities being so hesitant about winning a lot of money: most would be ruthless and just go for it. One reason why English sport, and cricket, so often disappoints is because that ruthless streak is absent.
Posted by Chirara on (February 23 2009, 08:52 AM GMT)It is just one of his switch-hits! He is neither here nor there. All that he should say is that at the time he thought it was a good 'financial' deal for him.
Posted by robheinen on (February 23 2009, 06:47 AM GMT)This man has a consistency of character like a puddle of mud. Then he's proud of his new found country. Then it 'your country not mine'.Then he's excited about the money. Then there's too much talk about money and too little about cricket. Then he's a right-hander. Then he's a lefthander. Can this man choose a stance on anything?
Posted by zohebchampion on (February 23 2009, 06:32 AM GMT)it's hard to believe someone feels uncomfortable with million dollars.
Posted by biggusdoggus on (February 22 2009, 22:54 PM GMT)It's all so easy for KP to come out now and say he was "very uncomfortable" about the deals he was signing into. Obviously not that uncomfortable, or he wouldn't have signed.