Let's get one thing straight here - Pietersen is half English, in exactly the same way that Strauss is half English - through his mother. That's good enough for me.

Anyway, my twopen'rth is that KP should not captain England unless the squad was filled with ten other, even more brash individuals. He has too much of an ego for the job IMO.

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

The thing to do with a brash individual is sometimes to make him captain. And the thing about Pietersen is he is couple of years older now. I think a lot is being asserted about being brash and everything. He is stong willed and single minded.

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"Checkout the big brain on Brett" Pulp Fiction

I'm sorry, but I don't agree. If that were true, then the likes of Vaughan would never have been England captain, and the same is true for Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. There has to be at least some tactical knowledge obviously prevalent, and Pietersen has not yet shown, in my opinion, that he has the requisite knowledge.

I would also object to a player with no captaincy experience in first-class matches being chosen as captain, no matter who he is or what his character!

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

Waste of pixels, Adam! Some people just don't want to read it, even though the bloke has been entitled to British nationality since his first breath.

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Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
Spike Milligan

I know, although maybe if I say it every other post it might sink in... Pietersen is half English.

One thing's started to puzzle me - if he was entitled to play anyway, why did he have to go through the residency period of four years? Is it just that he was born in a different country, or am I missing something?

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

I agree. That's why he'll make a great half-captain.

i dont think kevin deserves to be captain simply because he is still new and they dont know what he is capable of in the future

Adam, the ECB only accepts a player as available for England if he is a British or Irish citizen and either born within England and Wales or resident in England and Wales for the immediately preceding four consecutive years.

That's where I was confused, it's an ECB thing. Cheers Ninjaman.

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

Who you are is determined by where you spent your informative years. Notice how many members here that live in England actually support their non-English home teams? That is for the same reason and is natural. His mum may be English, but he certainly is'nt You can take the man out of South Africa, but you cannot take the South African out of the man.

But in some ways, i like your theory. Because that means we can happily palm off Rolf Harris, Barry Humpheries and Jason Donavan as English

If he had left South Africa " to forfil his lifelong dream of playing for England" that would be one thing. But why did he really leave S.A? Because he was spitting the dummy over the quota system that in his mind, resulted in his being dropped from the Natal side.

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