Strauss laments 'madness' of Pietersen fall-out

Andrew Strauss has said English cricket could be damaged by the "madness" surrounding the publication of Kevin Pietersen's autobiography.
As Pietersen's book went on general sale yesterday after a welter of revelations and counter-claims, former England captain Strauss said he was concerned by the impact the accusations have on current skipper Alastair Cook and his side.
Strauss, Pietersen's successor as England captain, had his own well-documented problems with the South Africa-born batsman.
In particular, there was the incident which saw Pietersen send text messages critical of Strauss to opposition South Africa players during England's home series with the Proteas in 2012

Strauss retired soon afterwards and Pietersen was banished from the England side for three months.
Former Middlesex captain Strauss who, believing he was off-air, used a particularly obscene epithet to describe Pietersen while commentating for Sky television in July, said Thursday he was dismayed by the controversy generated by his old team-mate's book.

"A lot of this that's going on at the moment is madness," Strauss told Sky.
"There's been a lot of rumour, innuendo and opinion. I prefer to stick with the facts.
"All this tit-for-tat stuff, I don't think really helps the England cricket team."
One of the main accusations in Pietersen's book is that senior England bowlers James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, assisted by wicketkeeper Matt Prior, operated a "bullying" culture where they demanded apologies from fielders who made mistakes, but only if they were not in their own clique.

However, Strauss added: "The victim here really isn't Kevin Pietersen, or (former coach) Andy Flower or Prior or anyone; it's actually the England cricket team and Alastair Cook and (returning coach) Peter Moores who've got to try to take the side forward.
"That, to me, is the disappointing thing about this whole episode.