I freely admit that in general I do not like sporting turncoats who 'move' for personal reasons, but sometimes a players obnoxious personality and the reasons for the move adds to the dislike. A gifted soccer player like Ryan Giggs could have claimed to be English at the start of his career, but he did not. In Pietersen's case, his decision to leave because of the 'quota system' somehow rubbed me the wrong way. I don't like SA's quota system, but that does not mean that one has to walk so completely out of one's country. It was not as though Pietersen was in cricketing limbo like Hick was some 15 years earlier. But above all, there is something horribly obnoxious and irritating about Pietersen's body language that makes me want to throw up. To think that he plays in the same team and alongside guys like Cook, Collingwood or Hoggard somehow does not seem right.

I don't seem to be alone in feeling that way. Less than a month ago, I was chatting to a (very 'local') shopowner who is also a cricket fan. Out of the blue he told me that he wished that England get knocked out of this WC solely because of Pietersen. I am not exaggerating, but he is less popular than you think.