Colin Graves, the new chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, is adamant that he "didn't make any promises" to Kevin Pietersen about a possible return to Test cricket.
Graves, whose tenure as ECB chairman began on Friday, released a statement via the governing body's website in his first public response to claims from Pietersen that he had received "incredibly deceitful" treatment.
Grievance: Kevin Pietersen claims deceit.Credit: Getty Images
Andrew Strauss, the new ECB director of cricket and Pietersen's successor as England captain, said on Tuesday that a "massive trust issue" prevented the South Africa-born batsman's return, even though Pietersen is England's all-time leading run-scorer across all formats. That appeared to contradict earlier comments by Graves, that a return was possible if Pietersen, in international exile since the team's 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia last year, scored enough runs in county cricket.
But soon after Pietersen made an unbeaten triple century for Surrey against Leicestershire on Monday, Strauss told him to forget about playing for England against New Zealand and Australia this home season.
That led Pietersen to say he had been "misled", with the 34-year-old going on to make an unbeaten 355 against Leicestershire.
But former Yorkshire chairman Graves had a different take on events, saying on Friday: "In the past few days my integrity has been called into question, something I can't accept.
"So it saddens me that what was a private conversation with Kevin in March has been used to do just that.
"I didn't make any promises. There were no guarantees that if he chose to exit his IPL [Indian Premier League] contract, play county cricket and score runs he would be selected for England – and I said he should make any decision on his future on that basis."
However, Graves appeared to be defending himself from a charge Pietersen had not made, as the batsman had not said he had been "promised" anything, but rather that if he did fulfil certain conditions he would at least be considered for England selection.
Graves was prepared to accept there may have been a "misunderstanding".
"Back then, when we talked on the phone, Kevin asked if I thought his England career had ended in the right manner following the last Ashes series in Australia," Graves wrote in his ECB blog.
"I agreed that nobody particularly emerged with much credit from the whole episode, particularly given his achievements for England.
"I can see something has been misunderstood around the conversation and in the following debate, and perhaps how that happened."
AFP