The SIG Column – 9 January

While the England and Wales Cricket Board has been slowly building its commercial profile, the saga surrounding Kevin Pietersen’s resignation could prove a damaging blow to the governing body’s intentions explains Drew Barrand, head of media at the Sport Industry Group.

There is a certain irony to the events that have unfolded this week surrounding the demise of Kevin Pietersen’s short-lived reign as captain of the England cricket team.

Fresh from basking in a career-defining positive wave of PR for his admirable role in the England team’s return to India in the wake of the tragic terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the ebullient skipper fell from hero to zero within a blink of an eye.

For the cynics, the writing was on the wall. The South African-born batsman’s natural self-confidence and swagger has often flirted with danger and, in hindsight, it was a predictable, if not inevitable, series of events.

The very attributes that make Pietersen a world-class batsman and gave him potential as a captain proved in the end to be his downfall.

As is the way with all power struggles, the most dangerous situation is to think you hold all the aces. With the national press scrambling all over the story like a cheap suit, the face-off between Pietersen and the national team coach Peter Moores was played out through an all too willing media, recording each punch and counterpunch and leading to the inevitable conclusion of the duo’s joint departure.

Of course, the biggest loser in all this is the England and Wales Cricket Board. That this week has been a communications disaster is a huge understatement. In the modern era of 24 hour news channels it is pivotal to a governing body’s media profile that they act swiftly and decisively when faced with a crisis of this nature.

No-one would really argue with the end decision – after all no governing body in the world should be held to ransom by either its captain or its coach. But the fact that the situation went unchecked for so long and that for the best part of 24 hours there was utter confusion as to whether Pietersen or Moores were still in a job made the ECB rightly or wrongly look like a rudderless ship.

It is even more surprising when you consider how admirably the ECB coped with the India crisis only a matter of weeks before. Here was a governing body that looked in control of its destiny and refreshingly was making the right calls at the right time.

As history has shown, being a sport governing body is in essence a thankless task from a PR standpoint. You are up there to be shot at and your success in pure media terms is judged entirely on the pitch. The players get the glory, the governing body takes the flak for the failures. Actions off the pitch are either the noose around your neck or silent victories that no one shouts about.

Of course, the truth and the media story can be worlds apart but the bottom line is that it doesn’t matter what actually happened or who was right and who was wrong. From an external communications perspective, rarely can an organisation have got it so right and then so wrong in such a short space of time.

Of course, time could heal all ills. Pietersen will remain the England team’s pivotal batsman. A new captain has already been appointed in Andrew Strauss and a new coach will be found. Inevitably the focus will return to the annual slog of winning cricket matches.

But away from the media spotlight, there is a bigger issue here surrounding the outward impression of the ECB as a commercial organisation. Prior to this week’s events, the governing body was building a decent profile – despite the odd glitch such as the much-criticised Stanford Series.

Commercial organisations had looked on at a body that was not afraid to take risks and was gradually positioning itself with a view to taking advantage of the evolution of the sport.

It is to be hoped that the outward impressions of the governing body have not been irretrievably tainted by the captaincy saga. It is a well-worn truism that it takes years to build a positive profile and only a moment to lose it.

With cricket facing the biggest sea change in the sport’s history with the advent of the Twenty20 format and all the potential it brings, not to mention the fact that the ECB are currently looking for a principal team sponsor to take over from the departing Vodafone, this week’s events could not have come at a worse time.

Add in to the mix, the very real option of Sir Allen Stanford’s withdrawal from his lucrative arrangement with the ECB and the governing body could be staring in to the abyss.

Could the blow struck by Pietersen and Moores be a fatal one to the sport’s commercial future? It is to be hoped not…