After years of putting his own career first, Kevin Pietersen has embarked on a groundbreaking initiative that uses cricket to help disadvantaged kids get their own leg-up
George Dobell23-Nov-20155:56
#PoliteEnquiries: Kevin Pietersen special
There was a time, not so long ago, when talking to Kevin Pietersen on the day of an England squad announcement would reopen old wounds and rouse sleeping dogs to bark once more.But those days have gone. Right or wrong, Pietersen’s international career is over and he knows it. Clinging to the past does nobody any good. While there was still the odd outburst of anger and frustration last Thursday – during this conversation, one coach was branded “a clown” and one non-selection “insane” – they are less frequent now. He has, just about, moved on.That has allowed room for new pursuits in his life. He plays golf, he sees more of his family, and he is able to approach cricket with the mental and physical rest periods for which he – and the likes of Eoin Morgan – have long argued. Indeed, the irony of Andrew Strauss adopting several of Pietersen’s opinions – embracing the IPL, sacking Peter Moores and attempting to cut the domestic schedule – is not lost on him. “If I didn’t laugh, I’d cry,” Pietersen says. “I told Strauss all this about six years ago and I was portrayed as the bad guy.”Most of all, though, he has a new motivation. After years (a lifetime, really) of thinking mainly about himself – his batting, his fitness, his career – he is driven by a more selfless desire. He is, after all those years pursuing personal ambitions, inspired to help other people.That is not meant to sound critical. Whatever the reputation – and there are as many former team-mates who talk warmly of Pietersen’s support as those who decry him – he is the first to admit that he was, as an international sportsman, single-minded in his focus. He was, like the vast majority of top athletes, hugely driven by personal ambition and pride. And they are, in many ways, admirable qualities. But they don’t always allow much time for thinking outside the bubble.At the launch of the Sprite 24/7 project. Pietersen plans to start a similar scheme in the UK•KP24 FoundationHe is the first to admit this. “I’ve been incredibly lucky to travel the world,” he says. “Playing international sport has given me a privileged life. I’ve been to amazing places and had some incredible experiences. But the truth is, when you are focusing on your career in international sport, you have to be quite….”Selfish?”Yes, you do. Selfish is right. You do have to be, if not selfish, then single-minded. That’s maybe a better way to put it.”I always worked very hard. I always took my training seriously and was focused on being as good as I could be. You have to be to enjoy that level of success. It is a job, and to be good at your job you have to spend a lot of time on it. It means you probably don’t give the time you should to other things.”And while I always noticed the world around me – the net bowlers who would do anything for us but went home without shoes; the kids running along beside the team bus; the poor areas we drove through – it passed me by a little bit. I’m not proud of that, but it’s true. And if I had allowed myself to think too much of that, I probably wouldn’t have had the success I have had. I wouldn’t have the profile I now have, which allows me to give something back.”But it was all about me in the past. It was all about my ambitions. My runs. So to do something now that is all about helping people is incredibly satisfying.”Pietersen is not the only cricketer to attempt to give something back at the end of a fine career. Maybe there is some irony in the fact that two of his former team-mates, team-mates with whom he is no longer close, have recently made generous gestures of their own. James Anderson is the executive producer of the film Warriors, a really quite beautiful documentary that shows how cricket has been used as a tool to educate and improve a Maasai community in Kenya, while Graeme Swann was so moved by a Chance to Shine visit to a school that he made a substantial donation to ensure they have the facilities they require.Sharing dressing rooms and hotels with a dozen other highly ambitious, driven young men for months at a time is liable to cause friction. Maybe, as they grow older, the members of England’s finest team for many years will realise they have far more that unites them than divides them.
“Look, I can’t change the world. But if I can change the world of one or two kids? Well, that would be great”
Certainly Pietersen feels he has changed. Shocked by the death of a close friend and enlightened by parenthood, Pietersen has matured. While his new book, On Cricket, isn’t exactly a mea culpa, it does contain a lot more reflection and self-criticism than many would expect. The anger, the ego, the hurt, have subsided. They have been replaced by something more positive.”This only started a year or so ago,” Pietersen says. “For the first time, I had time to reflect. I had time to think about what I wanted to do next. And I came up with two clear goals.”The first was to raise awareness of a rare form of cancer – ocular melanoma – that took my great friend, my other brother, really, Jon Cole-Edwardes, from us far, far too soon.”And the other was to give something back. I wanted to repay all those people from all round the world who have always been so supportive. I wanted to use some of the good fortune I have had to help those who haven’t had any fortune.”To that end, his charity, the KP24 Foundation, has set up the Sprite 24/7 project which launches this week. It sees teams from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, Bangladesh, Kenya and the UAE assemble in Dubai – the foundation covers all the costs and that of chaperones – for ten days of training, activities and a T20 tournament that is expected to attract thousands of spectators. Each squad contains 12 players between the ages of 16 and 18 from underprivileged backgrounds. Pietersen will be among the coaches, and one player from each team will be given a scholarship to support their cricketing development.”I enjoy life more now. I see old friends and they say ‘How much calmer are you now?'”•Getty ImagesHe has plans to launch a similar scheme in the UK. He hopes it will “mirror the franchise teams” he likes to think will replace the county structure in T20 cricket.It is easy to be cynical about celebrities involving themselves in charitable causes. Often it is justified, too. Commitment sometimes extends to little beyond a photo opportunity and some positive PR.Time will tell, but this doesn’t feel like that. Pietersen talks of the project with such passion, with such fervour, that even when it seems impossible to imagine his claim that he will one day be known more for his charitable work than his cricket, you suspect he believes it. He has put his own money into the foundation – the whole of his Surrey wages in 2014, for a start – and insists this is just the beginning.”I would love this to be my legacy,” he says. “Of course I’m incredibly proud of the runs I’ve scored and the success we’ve had, but improving the lives of these disadvantaged kids would be something else entirely. It will be about giving people some of the incredible opportunities I’ve had.”I know some people will be surprised I’m doing this. But hopefully I’ll win some people over and other people will accept that I’m just trying to help. Why wouldn’t I want to?”Look, I can’t change the world. I know that. But if I can change the world of one or two kids? Well, that would be great, wouldn’t it?”Pietersen knows that his profile, and therefore his public reach, is much greater while he remains a player. He therefore intends to continue on the T20 stage for a few years to come, though it seems audiences in England may see little of him. There seems every chance he has already played his last first-class game.”I scored a triple-hundred last summer and the England selectors still ignored me,” he says. “What’s the point of me turning up at the start of April to be nicked off by some 60mph seamer?”If I play for anyone, it will be Surrey. But I don’t like the NatWest Blast as a competition, as playing once a week doesn’t really work for my batting. Besides, my schedule is already very busy. I intend to play cricket for a few more years, but I don’t know how much of it will be in England.”That seems a shame. But maybe there is too much baggage, too much pain involved in going back.”I enjoy life more now,” he says. “I see old friends and they say ‘How much calmer are you now?’ The stuff that happened a couple of years ago… it took a lot out of me.”I’m cool with my life now. I like what we’re trying to do. It excites more than anything I’ve ever done before. It seems more important. I want to help create a legacy beyond the world of cricket.”And I don’t have any stress now. I see my family. I play golf. And I can do things like this – the foundation – which is more important to me now. I feel I’m a happier person now. A better person.”For more information visit www.kp24foundation.com