ECB vice chairman denies Pietersen leaked row



LONDON // The vice chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has denied suggestions that Kevin Pietersen was responsible for leaking details of his rift with the former England coach Peter Moores. Pietersen was accused of allowing his unhappiness with the coach to become public and making his position as captain untenable, but Dennis Amiss said today that the ECB believed his protestations of innocence.

Pietersen resigned on Wednesday and Moores was fired over the spat, which threatens to blight England's efforts to regain the Ashes from Australia this year. "Once the information was in the public domain that Kevin Pietersen didn't want Peter Moores as his coach, it was always going to be impossible to resolve amicably," Amiss said in an interview with the BBC. "We understand his frustration at it being leaked by other parties."

Amiss said that Pietersen had considered quitting after last month's 1-0 Test series defeat in India, but agreed to mull his situation while on holiday in South Africa. "We wanted him to go away and think about it while he was in South Africa," Amiss said. "We wanted to resolve the situation as quickly as possible." Pietersen was in South Africa on Wednesday when reports circulated that he and Moores had resigned.

The batsman said in a newspaper interview that the ECB misinterpreted his comments in an emailed strategy paper he was asked to write. Pietersen wrote that he was unable to lead the squad on their Test and one-day tour to the West Indies starting this month if Moores was still in charge. Following the leak, Pietersen said the ECB treated this as a resignation and told him by telephone that he was stepping down.

"(England cricket managing director Hugh Morris) said they had had an emergency board meeting and they had accepted my resignation," Pietersen told Sunday's News of the World paper. "I said, 'on what basis has it been accepted?' They had no answer." Pietersen said Morris did not tell him that Moores was being fired. "I thought that one of us had to go," Pietersen said. "And I would have had no problem if they had decided it was me and Moores stayed."

Pietersen denied that his actions were ego driven and reaffirmed his commitment to his playing role in the side. He said there was no rift in the dressing room and even suggested that he could return to the captaincy in future. Amiss said the ECB was happy for Pietersen to continue playing under his replacement, Andrew Strauss. "Kevin is very much part of the future," Amiss said. "He's offered Andrew Strauss his backing. He hopes he will regain the England captaincy. He's got this will, this desire to do well in international cricket."

*AP

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

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2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Sub Regional Qualifier

Event info: The tournament in Kuwait this month is the first phase of the qualifying process for sides from Asia for the 2020 World T20 in Australia. The UAE must finish within the top three teams out of the six at the competition to advance to the Asia regional finals. Success at regional finals would mean progression to the World T20 Qualifier.

UAE’s fixtures: Fri Apr 20, UAE v Qatar; Sat Apr 21, UAE v Saudi Arabia; Mon Apr 23, UAE v Bahrain; Tue Apr 24, UAE v Maldives; Thu Apr 26, UAE v Kuwait

World T20 2020 Qualifying process:

  • Sixteen teams will play at the World T20 in two years’ time.
  • Australia have already qualified as hosts
  • Nine places are available to the top nine ranked sides in the ICC’s T20i standings, not including Australia, on Dec 31, 2018.
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World T20 standings: 1 Pakistan; 2 Australia; 3 India; 4 New Zealand; 5 England; 6 South Africa; 7 West Indies; 8 Sri Lanka; 9 Afghanistan; 10 Bangladesh; 11 Scotland; 12 Zimbabwe; 13 UAE; 14 Netherlands; 15 Hong Kong; 16 Papua New Guinea; 17 Oman; 18 Ireland

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In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

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