Former England Test cricketer and captain Ian Botham has said that ousted batsman Kevin Pietersen was treacherous but it really is time to move on from this mess surrounding the squad and win The Ashes again.
Pietersen, who launched his autobiography on Thursday, was given another chance by England after he sent texts about Andrew Strauss to the South Africans, but Botham found it surprising, as it was treachery.
Botham said that England should move on from all their past disputes and loses and win back the Ashes. He said that the fact is, the squad took a hammering from Australia in the last Ashes, found it too tough to handle and have turned on themselves, which is quite sad really, The Mirror reported.
Botham said that it would have been good to see the energy and aggression now going into fighting each other being used to tackle Australia in the winter, but added that what is gone has gone and the players would do well to remember that.
The England legend said that what he does know is that under Andy Flower, England went to number one in the world and he does not recall anyone complaining about him when they were on top of the tree.
He said that whatever has happened thereafter has been quite drastic and it doesn't reflect well at all on the game and it paints a very poor picture of cricket in England to the rest of the world.
Botham said that since he's written the book, Pietersen has said the one thing that this England team need to do is reconnect with the public. He added that on that score the former batsman is 100 percent right.
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Botham said that Pietersen was a part of a side that shunned the outside world and they all did it. He said that during their success, they took on a siege mentality when it wasn't necessary.
Botham said that it was a very hard team to communicate with and whether they like it or not, the media were there to provide the public with as much access to their team as possible. He added that by ignoring their fans and making it extremely difficult to engage with them, they became a team under more pressure than they needed to be.
Botham said that he watched how the Australians coped with their success last winter and was so impressed with how they wanted to take the whole country on the ride with them, adding that they wanted the nation to enjoy the experience as much as they did.
Botham also said that Pietersen has made a whole host of accusations in his book and seems to be holding on to a lot of anger, and added that he is hoping that the batsman has dealt with it now and can move on.
The former skipper said that it strikes him that when Pietersen fell out with people in the dressing room, he and they couldn't get past it. He also said that the batsman's treachery involving the Strauss incident should have been the end of his international career.
But Botham said that England gave Pietersen another chance and the wound between them all was allowed to get infected and now they have the blood pouring out. He said that it is petty, unnecessary and it is time to forget.