Pietersen: I didn't betray Strauss with texts

Kevin Pietersen says he did not betray Andrew Strauss by sending text messages about the former England captain to rival players, in his autobiography released to the media on Monday.
Pietersen revealed he had an angry telephone exchange with Strauss after reports emerged that he had criticised the skipper in messages to an unnamed opponent during England's 2012 series against South Africa.
But Pietersen, England's all-time leading run-scorer, claimed he was merely expressing views he would have shared with Strauss in person.
"The next day Strauss called me on his own and we had a fine, big dingdong," writes Pietersen, whose England career was effectively ended when he was axed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) earlier this year.
"He accused me of having done it. I admitted I had been in communication with the South Africans, but it was nothing bad.
"I went through example after example. The only thing I was guilty of was not defending my captain."
Pietersen, 34, also uses the book to allege that a "bullying" culture took root during the tenure of former head coach Andy Flower, with Matt Prior, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad the main culprits.
The South Africa-born batsman says Swann was a "loudmouth" and describes Prior as "massively negative".
- Cook 'paralysed' -
On reports that Pietersen had used the South African insult 'doos' in his messages about Strauss, he says: "I didn't disagree with the sentiment.
"It was a private message between mates letting off steam. Nobody writes a BBM (Blackberry Message) expecting it to be analysed by millions of people.
"It was just chatter. He (the South Africa player) said that Strauss was carrying on like an idiot, and that was it. It was nothing that I wouldn't actually say to Straussy myself, at the time or now.
"I have never and would never give any tactical information about any of my England team-mates to anyone on the opposing side. It goes right to the heart of me as a professional and me as a human being."
Pietersen criticises the current England captain, Alastair Cook, for failing to back him following the team's 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia that ended in January, but accepts he was left in an "uncomfortable" situation.
"I was disappointed. I had gone out of my way to support him on the Ashes tour," says Pietersen in the book, KP: The Autobiography, which goes on public sale on Thursday.
"The next time I saw Cooky he was staring at his shoes while I was being told I would not be included in the England squads in the Caribbean or in the World T20.
"I was disappointed in him then. I thought the way he behaved called into question his qualifications to be captain. But I know too that he is a decent guy and that he was paralysed by how uncomfortable it all was."
- England 'needed a scapegoat' -
He adds: "In the end, when we didn't have success as a distraction, they needed a scapegoat. Preferably somebody big, boisterous and annoying.
"Somebody with little history. Somebody who left colourful footprints on the pristine white carpets. I didn't always tread wisely. I was often naive and sometimes stupid. I was no villain, though."
Pietersen's book revisits his falling-out with Peter Moores -- brought back for a second stint as England coach after the Ashes debacle --  during his spell as captain in 2008/09, which cost Moores his job and saw Pietersen lose his post as England skipper.
"I told (ECB chairman Giles) Clarke that I couldn't captain with this Moores; I'd rather just go back into the ranks and bat," Pietersen says. "That was it. I didn't say it's him or me. No chance. Never."
Pietersen also says that he has not given up hope of resurrecting his England career.
"I'm not prepared to accept I will never play for England again," he writes. "Cricket is politics. Bad politics. Things change overnight.
"I believe that the governing body of English cricket could change; I believe it should change. I am happy for now, but I would be happy to come back."
Source: AFP