Cricket fans in here...

[scaryjim]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/18280196

England batsman Kevin Pietersen has announced his retirement from international limited-overs cricket.

More to follow.

Erm.... whut?

[kalniel]

Yeah...

edit: bbc pundits are speculating it's a row with ECB over twitter stuff.

[scaryjim]

Hmmm, BBC has KP quote now:

"I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the World Cup in 2015," he said. "I still wish to be considered for selection for England in Test cricket."

Next world cup's only 3 years away, so he'll be, what, 34? Sounds more like a convenient excuse than an actual reason to me... *sigh*

[scaryjim]

Update: looks like he only wanted to retire from 50 over cricket, but ECB link the selection process for 50 and 20 over, so retire from one and you retire from both. Very odd.

[OilSheikh]

I blame IPL mate. Those cheerleaders seduce all these good cricketers. It's such a shame.


On a serious note, yes, I do blame IPL. So much lucrative amounts of money is offered to the players, they don't feel like playing Intl. matches where the boards pay crap and sometimes boards don't pay on time. e.g. SL or WI.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I blame IPL mate. Those cheerleaders seduce all these good cricketers. It's such a shame.


On a serious note, yes, I do blame IPL. So much lucrative amounts of money is offered to the players, they don't feel like playing Intl. matches where the boards pay crap and sometimes boards don't pay on time. e.g. SL or WI.

You can see what Malinga did and also the IPL does put a lot of strain on players.

[OilSheikh]

IPL's next victim - KP sigh!