Shane Watson believes England cricket authorities should have done more to accommodate Kevin Pietersen, saying the revelations of discontent in his explosive autobiography provided a fresh reminder of the need for strong leadership of international teams.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A central figure in Australia's own tumultuous period 18 months ago and then their subsequent revival, the all-rounder knows only too well how a team can quickly unravel if allowed to.
In March last year Watson contemplated his own future after being one of four players stood down for the third Test in Mohali over the "homework" affair. The episode ultimately led to the sacking of coach Mickey Arthur, and a more united Australian team went on to thrash England 5-0 last summer and then win 2-1 in South Africa.
Pietersen, sacked in the wake of the Ashes, complains of a culture of "bullying" in the England set-up and while former teammates have taken aim at the controversial batsman Watson is disappointed he has been lost to the international game.
"I love watching him bat. My personal opinion is that England cricket had to work it out to make sure that they had the environment to be able to include everyone," Watson told Fairfax Media.
"Everyone has got different personalities and that's part of the skill of the leadership group and the coach to be able to bring those different personalities together. You do have to treat different people much differently to be able to engage them.
"For me, just the most disappointing thing is the fans of world cricket won't be seeing Kevin Pietersen playing international cricket again. That's a really sad thing."
Australia's dramas last year are cast in a whole new light by the vitriol contained in Pietersen's tell-all. Against the full-blown England malaise Australia's internal squabbles in the lead-up to and after the flashpoint in Mohali rate about a four out of 10.
Watson, a former county colleague of Pietersen's at Hampshire, said the tension inside the England team had not been obvious on the field during the rout of the tourists last summer.
"There always seemed to be a few little things that were bubbling along in their team anyway, but that was even during the times when they were dominating as well," said Watson, who trained at Blacktown International Sportspark on Wednesday before a return from injury in Sydney grade cricket for Sutherland on Sunday.
"But that happens in cricket teams when you're playing together all the time and living in each other's pocket day in and day out. I didn't think it was, I suppose, to the extent of what has come out in Kevin Pietersen's book
"What I take out of it is how important having really strong leaders is and how those leaders are able to really complement each other as well. What Michael [Clarke] and Darren [Lehmann] have been able to do to move the ship in the right direction has been brilliant. Their personalities complement each other very well and that for me has been a huge learning curve for not just cricket but for my life after cricket as well.
"Just seeing how important it is for leaders to be able to jell, complement each others' personalities and to then get the best out of what they've got around them and not just sit back and just let it unravel in front of you ... the coaches and the leadership are there to make sure these things don't happen."
