Kevin Pietersen leaves Natal

In an extract from his soon-to-be-released autobiography "Crossing the Boundary: The Early Years in My Cricketing Life", England's current poster-boy, Kevin Pietersen, talks about the circumstances which led to him leaving Natal a few years ago.

I should not have been discriminated against because of something that happened years before my time. I must emphasise I am not racist. Apartheid was none of my doing and was now — thankfully — a thing of the past. Why should I be punished?

If you do well you should play on merit. That goes for any person of any colour. There should never be a case of someone who is not as good as you taking your place purely for political reasons. I don't see how that can do anyone any good. And that includes the person who is brought in. Surely if he knows he is not in the team on merit it can only be harmful to him and the team. It can create the very divisions you are trying to destroy.

It was heartbreaking. There had to be three non-white players in the team and one of the better ones at that time in Natal was Ghulam Bodi, also a young off-spinning batsman. He was to take my place.

When they told me I flew into a rage, flinging a water bottle across the Natal dressing room and shouting: "I'm leaving here." Perhaps not the wisest move, but I was so angry because I knew Ghulam wasn't as good as me.

Labels: autobiography, pietersen