Football           Cricket           Tennis           Motorsport           Boxing           Other Sport       About Us           Contact Us        Forums

Cricket without Spin

January 7 2009

Pietersen/Moores: the joy of reporting anything

Every once in a while a sports story will run and run, founded on something and yet nothing all at once. Plenty of movement was evident in the Moores/Pietersen rift, but no journalist really appeared to have a hold on what was going on.

Mihir Bose, just 24 hours ago, was able to proclaim that the resolution would be Moores' removal and Pietersen's continued reign as captain.

The only solution is likely to be the departure of Moores, with an announcement possible as early as Thursday.

Barring the inaccuracies of who would go and when it would happen, spot on. That was dispelled, despite his best sources, just four hours later, when it emerged that potentially both men were facing the prospect of being sacked. This rumbled through the night, before the story changed again as dawn broke.

Rumours circulated of a resignation – first of KP – then of Moores too. In fact, Sky Sports briefly had the following on display:

Kevn [sic] Pietersen has resigned as England captain, according to Sky News.

More to follow...

If the only criterion of publishing news were to declare it yourself and then report it as being true 'according to you', there'd be some altogether more speculative headlines here on Sport without Spin.

Mihir Bose himself was plugging the alternative sacking angle on the BBC News Channel in the morning. The clip is here, where he says of events:

'The England and Wales Cricket Board have said “The captain cannot decide who the coach is, so the captain has to go”'.

And, as it turns out, the resignation report turns out to be false, according to the statement which follows in the afternoon and is reported on Sky News:

Contrary to media speculation today, I wish to make it very clear that I did not resign as captain of the England cricket team this morning.

Which would normally be fairly trivial, unless when you're pointing out that Sky News has essentially taken a massive guess on a story which was then became a self-fulfilling prophecy and made Pietersen's position still more precarious and ultimately untenable.

In the end, Pietersen has resigned, and Moores has been relieved of his duties. Now it is clear. The reporting from the likes of Bose and Sky News muddied what were already dirty waters. If you don't know, then don't pretend you do.