'Never liked each other anyway': Graeme Swann minces no words to lambast England legend

Former England cricketer Graeme Swann has lashed out at his former teammate Kevin Pietersen while lifting the lid on their much-talked-about rivalry. As reported by Fox Sports, Swann shed light on Pietersen’s controversies, which peaked after he was caught sending derogatory messages about his teammates Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower to opposition players during a Test match. Revealing his thoughts on the episode, Swann claimed the players never used to like each other in the first place.

Meanwhile, the former off-spinner went on to reveal how Kevin Pietersen was confronted by the team after the incident. The 44-year-old said that interactions between the former England batsman and other players had to be mediated by the management. Swann added that the players went one by one as a conflict resolution expert listened to the players if they had any beef with Kevin.

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“(Kevin) was there, (ODI captain) Alastair Cook was there and (coach) Andy Flower, so I went both barrels, because I thought ‘I can’t believe I’ve got to do this on my day off, and Kev was very defensive and said ‘I had to fly back from South Africa for this,” Swann said. 

“I’m not sure how everyone else went, after the meeting Alastair Cook rang me up and said ‘Jesus Christ, you did go both barrels!’ I felt I could because me and Kev never liked each other anyway, a lot of other people either like him a bit or got on with him but me and Kev always hated each other,” he added.

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"Living in a bit of a soap opera"

Graeme Swann labeled the incident to a soap opera and said, “It was the most bizarre (situation) you know, you’re living in a bit of a soap opera,” Swann said. “So yeah, he sent texts, then he had (TV personality) Piers Morgan do a YouTube video saying ‘I didn’t do this’, but now he says he did do it, but (that) he was just texting his friends.”

The former Test spinner went on to criticize Pietersen for his behavior during England’s 2013-14 Ashes tour to Australia. England notably lost the series by 5-0 as Mitchell Johnson terrorized the English batsmen. The series also marked the mid-series retirement of Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann.