Losing KP was the beginning of the end

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KEVIN Pietersen's joy was so obvious it was a surprise his typing fingers didn't punch a hole in his phone.

"I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! I JUST CANNOT! But well done Bangladesh! You deserve it."

That now famous tweet was not written by a man whose prime emotions were anger or disappointment.

It was by a man bursting with the everlasting satisfaction of knowing that however modest England were with him they were simply atrocious without him.

A cynic may suggest that it also shows why he was left out in the first place.

That England's failure was his success. To Kev, it's always been about Kev.

But he is not the first discarded star to feel this way and the deeper issue is England's failure to handle and harness him.

Most star teams have a maverick player. Genius often comes in quirky packages.

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Down through the generations there were times when players moaned it was all about Flintoff or Botham or Bradman or Warne and how they seemed to play by different rules, which of course they did.

The trick is learning how to manage them and England never got there.

But back to that later.

England needed a character like 'KP' for his campaign. Picture: Darren England. Source: News Limited

Trying to list the full reasons behind England's World Cup demise is like detailing the cause of the GFC. It's a long and complex story.

The failure of their coach Peter Moores to inspire the side proves once and for all that there is a difference between a successful county coach whose job it is to rouse a group of pliable professionals and an England coach who has to be a big time thinker and tactician and motivator.

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The fact that Moores said he would have to look at the data to explain England's poor performance is like the captain of the Titanic saying he would have to check flow charts to see why his vessel sank — mate, you hit a frickin' iceberg!

The choice of Eoin Morgan as a captain was a disaster. His batting form was terrible and even his permanently anguished demeanour, which resembled a man with a serious wind problem trying not to show it, radiated bad vibes for his team.

England captain Eoin Morgan after his side were knocked out of the World Cup. Source: Getty Images

His refusal to sing the anthem was a hollow one for a team craving zest and sparkle they could never find.

In terms of charisma, Winston Churchill he ain't.

When long time captain Alastair Cook was dropped just before the Cup many felt it was overdue.

Cook may not be a sabre-rattling captain but he is a strong man and a reliable leader of men. They missed him.

Good teams tend to be noisy trainers. They laugh. They joke. The pull pranks. England's training sessions were so quiet and spiritless it was as if they were taking place in the state library.

But Pietersen's exit was the torpedo midships.

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Pietersen may be hard to handle but he did captain his country and play more than 250 games for England. It's not as if they were trying to handle a great train robber.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan, a fine leader of men, handled Pietersen best by realising early on there were several essential elements in dealing with him.

Pietersen's forensic thirst for information meant he had to be given as much as possible about any issue that concerned him.

Also, he needs to be listened to and respected.

That was about it really. Other superstars have been managed equally effectively.

You might think Shane Warne would have been tough, but early on Mark Taylor solved everything by being brutally firm with him to the point where an umpire once asked whether there was any on-field sledging replied "just the normal between Tubby and Warnie.''

But they somehow clicked.

When Warne became a superstar and went on a team bonding camp he was initially banned from taking a carton of cigarettes before he told organisers "if they don't go neither do I.''

Sometimes you have to be pliable. Firm sticks can just break in two — just like England this campaign.

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Titans text message: pool game or drug deal?

Titans NRL club stars Greg Bird and Dave Taylor have pleaded not guilty to drugs charges on the Gold Coast.

A CASUAL invitation to a game of pool at a suburban pub is at the centre of allegations a Gold Coast Titans player was involved in supplying cocaine.

With the five Titans involved in the cocaine scandal still yet to be returned to the club's active roster, The Courier-Mail can reveal a key plank in the Crime and Corruption Commission case against Kalifa Faifai Loa relates to a casual mention of a Gold Coast tavern.

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Text messages with alleged code words and hidden meanings are central to allegations against several of the eight past and present Titans facing charges of supplying cocaine.

Their lawyers labelled the allegations weak and want the charges thrown out and the players reinstated immediately.

Titans NRL player Kalifa Faifai Loa appears in Southport Court on drugs charges. Pics Adam Head Source: News Corp Australia

Faifai Loa, a former New Zealand and Samoan Test player, faces one count of supplying cocaine after the CCC allegedly intercepted text messages about Treetops Plaza at West Burleigh.

Titans NRL club stars Greg Bird and Dave Taylor have pleaded not guilty to drugs charges on the Gold Coast.

He allegedly sent a message saying "Meet me at the Treetops Plaza in Burleigh".

It will be alleged other messages related to meeting at the shopping centre's tavern to play pool – which the CCC will allege was code for a drug deal.

As well as being a part of pool games, an "eight ball" is also street slang for a quantity of cocaine weighing about 3.5g and worth over $1000.

Faifai Loa's lawyer Campbell Maccallum said the allegations were "wildly speculative".

Allegations against reigning Titans player of the year Beau Falloon include references to a text message saying "Our season starts now", while other players allegedly sent messages to accused cartel kingpin John Touma featuring references to various varieties of wine.

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Touma, whose drug trafficking case returns to Southport Magistrates Court today, once ran a wine distribution business.

Meanwhile, the Titans team announced on Tuesday for this weekend's NRL round featured none of the players facing charges.

The Titans board has already been briefed of the case against the players and hopes to make a decision on their immediate playing future within days.

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Kent: Focus on the bigger picture

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WHEN it comes to short turnarounds, nobody knows the pressure time can bring better than the kids at The Children's Hospital, Westmead.

They live in a world where their daily actions really are, far too often, matters of life and death.

They know all too well that what they have today could be gone tomorrow, and it could be everything. Second chances don't always come around. 'There's always next week' isn't always a choice.

Des Hasler at Bulldogs training in Belmore. Picture Craig Greenhill Source: News Corp Australia

Yet for reasons we never seem to learn many of these kids could teach us a thing or two about what's important.

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They accept their plight with a matter-of-factness that staggers those of us who worry over looming deadlines, or interest rates, whether my God is better than your God.

Or wins on the football field.

Perhaps better than anybody they know life is to be sucked dry. That true joy is often the small things, laughter on cold afternoons, a hug from mum, or something as simple as an afternoon without real pain.

Rugby league has always been a strong supporter of sick kids.

The Charity Shield has been raising money for sick children since 1982.

Just last week Manly players visited children at Stewart House, which helps children who have a little less than most of us.

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And this week Parramatta play Canterbury in what has in recent years become the Bandaged Bear Cup.

It will be the Bulldogs' first home game and a cut from the gate will go to the hospital to help the children.

For very good reasons the Bulldogs wanted to publicise the game as broadly as possible. They thought back to what Parramatta did last year when it was the Eels' home game and Parramatta asked if some Canterbury players could join them at the hospital. So the Bulldogs thought the best way to promote Friday's Cup was to again get players together with the kids.

You have no idea how much the kids look forward to this.

Last year Tim Mannah joined Josh Reynolds and there, in real life, were full-blown NRL stars. This was laughter on a cold afternoon and a hug from mum all wrapped up in one.

So Canterbury called Parramatta and asked if the Eels would join them at the hospital.

Brad Arthur rearranged his side's training schedule so his players could visit The Children's Hospital. pic Mark Evans Source: News Corp Australia

The call from Canterbury came as a short inconvenience to Parramatta coach Brad Arthur. He was not expecting it, so he had Parramatta's week all planned out.

There's nothing new in that. Every club has a strict schedule depending on whether it is a five, six, seven, eight, nine or 10-day turnaround between games.

Never mind, Arthur changed the schedule.

So the Eels would have a full day training on Monday and have a lighter day on Tuesday, with players training at 12.30pm before going off for individual work or, for some, heading to the hospital.

Then Canterbury called back. The Bulldogs had changed plans.

Coach Des Hasler was worried, the Eels were told, about the short turnaround.

Given Canterbury played Penrith last Sunday and have just five days to get ready for Parramatta on Friday Hasler, the Eels were told, didn't want his players going to the hospital.

Five days, he couldn't spare a couple of hours.

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The Eels were a little annoyed, mostly because they had shuffled their week to help out Canterbury and the Dogs now refused to be inconvenienced.

What they did not waiver on, though, was visiting the children.

On Tuesday Darcy Lussick, Semi Radradra and Tepai Moeroa headed to Westmead to visit the children without a Bulldog in sight.

Little Taleigha-Rose Musico has been quarantined this past week. She is four years old and was born with half a heart and when she got a virus, after surgery just before Christmas, there was nothing good about it.

Until the Eels turned up.

"She's all dressed and excited," mum Emma Musico said.

"Loves them."

The Bulldogs have since said they might send a player later in the week and you can be sure they will after today, and will insist they always intended to.

But that doesn't make it right. The game is important and winning is important, we all know that.

Parramatta Eels visit the The Children's Hospital at Westmead for Bandage Bear Cup game against the Bulldogs. Pic Brett Costello Source: News Corp Australia

Of less consideration is rugby league is a game where parents entrust their children to NRL clubs from an early age, knowing the great influence clubs will have on their boys but letting them go anyway with a kiss and a hope that the club will not only continue developing them as footballers, but as young men.

On Tuesday, one club delivered on that unspoken promise.

They gave the kids at the hospital something they all need, a boost, and without even realising got a little something for themselves, too.

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Cats give Hartman ‘indefinite break’

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YOUNG Cat Brad Hartman will take an indefinite break from football to deal with a range of personal issues.

The 20-year-old will return to live with his family in South Australia where he will weigh up his football future over the coming months, after his parents met the club yesterday morning.

Geelong football manager Steve Hocking confirmed late yesterday that as a result of the meeting, Hartman had been granted time out of the AFL program to work through "some personal challenges".

"He has been working with a psychologist and that will be ongoing moving forward," Hocking said. "This is about more than football. It is about educating Brad to make better choices and to help him figure out what does his future look like.

"At this point of time, it is important for him to spend time with his family to assess his options."

Brad Hartman celebrates a Cats win with fellow first-gamer Darcy Lang. Picture: Colleen Petch Source: News Corp Australia

Hartman, who comes from an elite basketball background and was taken by the Cats at pick 77 in the 2012 national draft, showed rapid development last season and played five AFL games.

But he returned to Simonds Stadium after the off-season break not meeting certain fitness markers set by the club.

And there was also an incident in December while driving home in South Australia, where he was charged with failing to stop at a stop sign after he allegedly clipped a parked car.

That incident has left Geelong's $250,000 sponsorship deal with the Transport Accident Commission hanging by a thread.

Hocking said the leadership group sat down with him upon his return to the club.

Brad Hartman in action against Hawthorn last season. Picture: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia

"They (the leadership group) set certain standards but Brad has found it difficult to meet those," he said.

"From day one when he got to the club, Brad has suffered from homesickness. It comes and goes, but when he does go back home (to Murray Bridge), when he first gets back, that yearn to be back home is particularly difficult for him."

Hocking said the club would continue to work with Hartman, with player welfare officer David Johnson set to fly to South Australia periodically to keep in personal contact with Hartman and his family.

"His teammates will also stay in touch with him, he has strong friendships here," Hocking said.

"At this stage, we will reconvene with Brad towards the end of March with myself, David Johnson, his manager and his family, and we'll also have the psychologist involved.

"If Brad is feeling like he wants to play AFL, then we will try to draw a map from there as to what the next few months look like. If not, then that is fine, and we will continue to work with him in transitioning to the next stage of his life.

"In the past month, he has been enrolled in a course involved around teaching and he has been really engaged in that and has enjoyed that. He may go away and say 'I want to pursue a career in teaching' or he may want to try and do both.

"Either way we will be here to support him in those decisions."

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Manly ready to release DCE to Titans

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DALY Cherry-Evans' future at Brookvale is untenable with Manly bosses contacting the Titans to discuss a compensation deal that would deliver him to the Titans this season.

The Courier-Mail can reveal Manly's recruitment-and-retention committee is prepared to explore a player-trade as the Sea Eagles begin planning for life after Cherry-Evans.

In the latest twist to the Cherry-Evans affair, the Titans have fielded a call from a Sea Eagles representative offering the playmaker's services for this season.

Manly have contacted Daly Cherry-Evans over a possible release. Source: Getty Images

The Test half-back is due to launch his Titans career next year, but the Sea Eagles are ready to broker an immediate severance package featuring benefits for both parties.

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Manly chairman Scott Penn says Cherry-Evans remains in the club's plans, but won't stand in the playmaker's way if the Titans are willing to discuss an exchange of players.

"If the Titans came to us and said, 'We want Daly early' and there is a deal to be done, we would certainly look at it," Penn said.

"As of today, Daly is firmly part of our plans for this year ... but having said that, it doesn't mean that's how it plays out."

Asked if Manly will consider compensation in the form of a player-swap, Penn was unequivocal.

"Yes that's certainly an option," he said.

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"There is multiple options, but the news is still fresh and we have a game to play on Saturday night. The most important thing is that if a deal (to release Cherry-Evans) is done, it is done behind closed doors and doesn't affect our play on the field.

"We are open to that scenario. We are in the market right now and if the Titans have some opportunities within the club, we will talk to them."

Ideally, the Titans would take Cherry-Evans tomorrow, but one impediment to an expedited transfer is the club's salary-cap position.

The Gold Coast would have to outlay around $500,000 to accommodate Cherry-Evans this season — funds the Titans can only free-up by offloading a number of big-name stars.

Besieged duo Greg Bird and Dave Taylor, currently fighting cocaine-supply charges, face uncertain futures at the Titans. But it is understood coach Neil Henry is a fan of both and would oppose any moves to jettison the pair to fund Cherry-Evans' immediate purchase.

Titans NRL player Greg Bird appears in Southport Court facing drugs charges. Pics Adam Head Source: News Corp Australia

And while the Sea Eagles have been linked with Titans rookie Kane Elgey, Gold Coast hierarchy are hopeful Cherry-Evans can mentor the under-20s half-back ace next season.

However, it is clear Manly powerbrokers are ready to cut a deal, with Penn underscoring frustrations with mid-season departures by calling for a transfer window.

"It's not a good look for the game for players to sign six to 12 months in advance and we need to do something about it," he said.

"There is a risk your heart is not in it and we need 100 per cent from every one of our players every week.

"If there is a risk that is not possible, then you are better off releasing them earlier.

"Daly is a professional at heart. The expectation is that he will play out the way with us, but it doesn't mean that's how it plays out."

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Titans CEO Graham Annesley was tight-lipped on Tuesday on the prospect of Cherry-Evans joining the Titans in the coming weeks.

"Daly is currently contracted to Manly and I'm not prepared to say or do anything that could be interpreted as an attempt to destabilise another club's playing roster," he said.

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Watching England lose never gets old

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YOU didn't have to be from Bangladesh to mark it down as the most enjoyable moment of the World Cup.

Watching the England cricket team sink without trace, especially when playing in Australia, is one of sport's purest pleasures — and it never gets old.

It is, of course, unsportsmanlike and disrespectful to say so, but, hey, that's the way it's been for nearly 150 years of one of the world's most passionate sporting rivalries — and it works in reverse, too.

That's why the derision being heaped on the heads of the poor old Poms diluted the applause for the east Asian battlers, who have never had a finer moment.

Bangladesh fans celebrate their team's win over England. Source: AFP

The Bangas may have been sold short. This was the third time in four one-dayers they have knocked England off, and just as Ireland, with a faint air of indignation, declared their defeat of the West Indies was not an upset, this may have been no aberration either.

England's embarrassment is acute. There will not be enough back doors to sneak through when they get home a fortnight ahead of schedule.

We might be chortling here, but as always the worst savaging has come from their own camp followers.

Sir Ian Botham said a week ago they were the worst one-day side England had ever fielded, and predictably Geoffrey Boycott couldn't get stuck in hard enough.

England the Adelaide Oval after their loss to Bangladesh. Source: Getty Images

"They're not as good as some think they are," Boycott wrote. "Most have been in denial, kidding themselves they have been unlucky, but it is impossible to be unlucky all the time."

He said heads must roll, a response of which the English were fond of hundreds of years ago. There has been no shortage of seconders.

If it was no laughing matter in London, it was in other unlikely places.

Someone in Malaysia tweeted: "When can we play them?"

And from Japan: "Dear ECB_cricket, this might not be a great time but as there is room in your schedule, fancy a game in Japan on your way home? #challenge"

Having been whitewashed 5-0 the last time they were here, English cricket is again in disarray a few months ahead of the next Ashes battle, so some big decisions loom.

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Not least will be a rethink, surely, on exiled batting star Kevin Pietersen, who spent the first half of the summer making good runs in the Big Bash League and then repaired to a Caribbean resort to watch — with barely disguised amusement — the disaster unfold.

And that's what it was. In five matches England have beaten only winless Scotland and cannot be considered cast-iron certainties against Afghanistan on Friday.

In 11 attempts they have never won the World Cup, losing the final three times, and since the last of those, in Melbourne in 1992, six tournaments have produced only five wins against Test nations.

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This was one of the worst denouements because Bangladesh tried hard to throw away the win with a simple dropped catch and some ordinary death bowling.

They were rescued by a magnificent final four balls by their best quick, Rubel Hossain, who bowled fast, full and straight — a simple strategy that doesn't get employed often enough.

They will now almost certainly play their quarter-final against India at the MCG tomorrow week in front of a huge crowd in a pulsating atmosphere.

It's not what Melbourne was expecting — but it might be a better spectacle than England could have been relied on to produce.

ron.reed@news.com.au

Twitter: @Reedrw

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