Botham wants Pietersen to prove that he is fully committed to playing for England in all formats

Former England captain Ian Botham is glad to see the ongoing Kevin Pietersen saga finally come to an end, and stated that the whole issue had been blown way out of proportion by the South African-born batsman and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Botham noted that everyone involved in the saga should move on, and Pietersen should concentrate on getting back in form instead of causing any more bad blood between him and his team-mates.

Writing in his column for the Daily Mirror, Botham said: “Finally, someone has decided to take a bit of initiative and put this long-running and protracted saga to bed. Why on earth we are talking about Kevin Pietersen and a ‘re-integration’ back into the team two months after he was left out of the side is beyond me, this should have been sorted out weeks ago, like adults, and I think both sides have to take some responsibility for that. The good news is that England are going to have a world-class batsman back in their ranks, the bad news is that the drawn-out nature of this is going to make it very -difficult for everyone involved to move on.”

However, Botham also mentioned that Pietersen was going to have to take the initiative to show that he is fully committed to the England national squad instead of going here and there to play in domestic Twenty20 tournaments like the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“I think Kevin knows he made some mistakes in the way he went about things this summer and only he can put them right. He is going to have to show the rest of the dressing room that he is totally committed to what they are trying to do and that will take some doing, his actions will have to speak louder than his words, so that the whole dressing room feels that they are going to work together against the opposition,” Botham added.