As cricket followers around the world contemplated the end of Kevin Pietersen's England career two questions kept being asked -- 'why?' and 'why now?'
The 33-year-old's days as an international cricketer came to an end on Tuesday when the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that it had "unanimously" decided to move forward without him.
It was open to the ECB to say that, at the age of 33 and beset by a longstanding knee injury, now was the time to bid farewell to the South Africa-born shotmaker.
Form and fitness have long been regarded as the two key reasons for dropping players yet, in a curiously-worded statement, the ECB opted for neither explanation.
Instead ECB managing director Paul Downton, following England's 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia where Pietersen, for all his struggles was still the team's leading run scorer, talked of a need "to rebuild not only the team but also the team ethic and philosophy".
There then followed a deafening silence from the ECB and the England hierarchy.
It was all too much for England great Ian Botham.
"He (Pietersen) is one of the best cricketers this country has ever had - and if his career has been terminated, why not tell us why?," the former England captain told Sky Sports.
"Don't give us the one-liner -- 'we're moving on, we're doing this, we're doing that'. He's 33, not 43," Botham added.
Instead their statement carried an overtone from the era of 'gentlemen and players' where being a 'good chap' could matter more in England circles than how good a cricketer you were.
But as former England bowler Matthew Hoggard, an Ashes-winner alongside Pietersen in 2005, pointed out, "you don't have to be friends to play cricket together".
