Pietersen was sent into exile during the Test series against South Africa after sending provocative text messages to the opposition that contained criticism of then England captain Andrew Strauss. The 32-year-old was dropped for the final Test and has since been left out of the One-Day International series against South Africa and the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, while Strauss retired from all forms of cricket during the controversy.
But Pietersen has now apologised for his behaviour and recently signed a new central contract with England after agreeing to enter a ‘re-integration’ process. The next step in bringing Pietersen in from the cold will be a meeting with his England teammates and coach Andy Flower.
Flower and several of England senior stars were believed to be furious with Pietersen’s actions in recent months, but there has been a softening of that attitude and Broad is hopeful the talks will aid the Surrey batsman’s return in time for the forthcoming tours to India and New Zealand.
“It’s in the management’s hands,” Broad told the BBC. “Of course [we’d welcome him back]. We’ve had some amazing success with KP. I’ve been in the side six years, we’ve won two Ashes series and a World Twenty20, and we know that KP is a really dangerous player for us. Whether it’s for [the tour of] India or New Zealand, the team will welcome him back. We pride ourselves on being an honest changing room and the only way to move forward is to talk about things."
“There will be a meeting with some of the hierarchy and we just need to lay some things out.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2012.
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