Ex-ICC chief blames hierarchy for Pietersen axe

London: Kevin Pietersen is one of world cricket`s heroes and his sacking by England represents a failure by the team`s leadership rather than the player, according to former International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani.

The England and Wales Cricket Board brought the curtain down on the South African-born batsman`s near-10-year spell at the top by leaving him out of the squad for the forthcoming Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh and limited-overs tour of West Indies. Paul Downton, the managing director of England cricket, cited a need "to rebuild not only the team but also team ethic and philosophy", effectively closing the door on a player frequently labelled a disruptive dressing-room influence. "To take Pietersen out of the England team equation I think is a failure of management, not of the player," Mani told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday from his home in Islamabad. "He`s a great character and the game needs heroes like that." Pietersen played in 104 tests, 136 one-day internationals and 37 Twenty20 internationals. He scored 8,181 test runs with a highest score of 227, 4,440 ODI runs and 1,176 Twenty20 runs, but, despite his swashbuckling efforts as a batsman, he was a player who polarised opinion. Mani, who was president of the ICC between 2003-06, said ultimately it was the job of the board to coax the best out of its cricketers. "There will always be issues with players," explained the 68-year-old Pakistani businessman. "Some players have big egos, some have different ways of looking at things. "But at the end of the day that`s what the cricket boards are there for, to man-manage their players and get the best out of them. "To say to someone that you are a good player but you don`t fit into our plans, to me demonstrates a failure of the board." ASHES THRASHING England were thrashed 5-0 by Australia in the recent Ashes series Down Under, and lost the one-dayers 4-1 and the Twenty20 encounter 3-0. Mani believes there will be other casualties to follow the 33-year-old Pietersen. "England had a horrid tour of Australia but Pietersen still topped the test batting averages, so why have they decided he can no longer be part of the team - unless there are major problems in the dressing room we don`t know about," said the Pakistani. "There must be more fallouts from the tour to come. There is such a question mark over so many of the players now. "The bowling department`s under pressure and the batsmen have shown they have issues against good bowling - the Australian pacemen were really impressive. "It will be interesting to see England`s batsmen the next time they are exposed to really fast bowling." Mani said England should take a leaf out of Australia`s books when it comes to player guidance. "The Australians have always been pretty good at managing their cricketers, they manage it much better," he added. "Look at all-rounder Shane Watson. He actually left the tour of India (for disciplinary reasons) last year but that didn`t mean they dumped him. "He came back into the side and is now firing on all cylinders," said Mani. "Ultimately it is the board`s responsibility, not the players. I`ve run businesses around the world and you just can`t pass the buck on to an employee, you have to take responsibility and manage the situation."