Will Andrew Strauss give up the England captaincy?

If, as everyone expects, Andrew Strauss gives up the England captaincy today, I suspect he will make every effort to say it is not all to do with Kevin Pietersen. He will cite his lack of form, the disappointment of losing world number one status, the busy schedule over the next 18 months of India away, and then back-to-back ashes series. Strauss is too much of a class act to go out swinging. But it will be hard to take at face value.

In his press conference before the last test at Lords when Pietersen had been dropped for all manner of breaches of team loyalty, Strauss looked pained. He admitted he felt let down. At a time when everyone should have been talking abut him, as he approached his 100th test, instead they were talking about Pietersen.

The KP situation

I suspect Strauss knew the KP situation would not go away. At a time when England were struggling, could they really face going to India without their best player? The entire England teams’ form has dipped, bar three players: Matthew Prior, Jimmy Anderson and Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen’s innings in the second test against the South Africans was batting of the very highest quality.

But understandably, Strauss has maybe just had enough of trying to accommodate a talent which is surpassed only by his ego. Could he really shake hands with a man who texted opponents during a match allegedly slagging him off? And being the ultimate team man, could he insist on Pietersen’s exclusion when his batting is needed?

We will learn much more at Lords shortly or maybe we won’t. Strauss’ gripe with Pietersen was that he washed dirty linen in public. Expect to him live by his word if he says goodbye later.