Cameron Ponsonby looks back at one of the most chaotic periods in English cricketing history.

“It’s tough being me playing for England.”

2012 was a tumultuous year in English cricket. On the pitch, the highest of highs were being achieved as England spent much of the year ranked as No.1 in the Test-playing world. But off it, and the most farcical of lows were playing out.

At the centre of it all was, as always, Kevin Pietersen. Across the year, he played three of the all-time great Test innings. First in Colombo where he scored an almost run-a-ball 151 in a famous eight-wicket win, then at Headingley where his 149 against South Africa involved smacking around Dale Steyn with laughable ease, before his 186 in Mumbai won England their first Test in India since 1984.

At the time, ESPNcricinfo’s George Dobell wrote of the innings that: “Pietersen’s century in Mumbai was ridiculous. It was ridiculous in its audacity, ridiculous in its range of strokes and ridiculous in the way it flouted conditions and conventions. This was a wickedly turning surface…[but] Pietersen created the illusion that he was operating on a batting paradise.”

And yet, it nearly never happened. Mixed in with the regular reminders of genius was an exile from the side and a T20 World Cup where he was left out, just two years after he had been England’s Player of the Tournament when they had won the competition in 2010.

The reason for his omission was ‘Textgate’. The accusation against Pietersen was that during the Test at Headingely, in which he had scored a century, he had sent members of the South African opposition derogatory texts about England captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower. Including some that gave advice on how to get the England skipper out.

This followed a remarkable post-day media interaction in which Pietersen had alluded to a potential retirement from the Test game, saying that, “it’s tough being me playing for England”. Amidst all the drama was an additional layer that a parody KP twitter account was being run, which Pietersen believed had involvement from players within the dressing room.

The whole scenario was akin to an episode of Eastenders being played out in the corridors of Lord’s. What’s more, earlier in the year, Pietersen had retired from international white-ball cricket. But he’d changed his mind on that. And made himself available for England in all forms once more. Keeping up?

The texts appeared to be the final nail in the coffin, however. A complete breakdown of trust between Pietersen and the ECB meant that Pietersen was left out of the squad for the final Test against South Africa and the squads for the upcoming T20 World Cup and Test series away to India.

“Pietersen is one of the best players in the world,” said national selector Geoff Miller, “so it is disappointing, but it’s not just about an individual in a changing room. I’m not prepared to pick one of the best players if it creates a problem. Until these issues have been resolved then nothing can happen.”

“It shouldn’t have got to this,” said the legendary Shane Warne at the time. “Pietersen and Strauss could have down to the pub and had a beer and feed, and if they had to punch the absolute whatever out of each other, then so be it.

“If you have to get it out of your system then do it. Then come back and put your arm around each other and walk out and play together. There are faults on both sides. I think there is a bit too much ego at the ECB. There is no give and take or compromise.”

And so England went to the T20 World Cup without, at the time, their greatest ever white-ball batter. Pietersen did, however, still make it out to Sri Lanka for the competition, but as a television pundit watching on from the sidelines.

The competition went poorly for England, who initially progressed from the three-team group stage as they beat Afghanistan but lost to India. Then, as they headed into the Super Eight stage of the tournament, they played three and lost two, meaning they failed to qualify for the semi-finals.

“There was probably an England side that could have reached the T20 semi-finals”, wrote David Hopps at the time, “but it was not the one which lost three matches out of five…and crashed out of the competition.

“[The team] would have married Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan in the middle order – Pietersen thereby making spectators’ hair stand on end in the crowd rather than making his own hair stand on end for the benefit of the TV studio.”

The captain Stuart Broad was left to rue too many “average” days as the team missed out on that added sparkle that a certain conspicuous absentee may well have been able to bring.

But, less than three weeks after England were dumped out of the World Cup, and England and Pietersen were once again, if not the best of friends, then disgruntled housemates.

Seventy-three days after the Headingley hurricane that had spurred on the whole thing, he was added to the Test squad for the India series. A decision that Strauss, who had by that point retired, believed would be “difficult” with the potential for problems lying ahead.

“But if they can make it work, then obviously England will be a better side with KP in it, because he’s an outstanding player.”

And make it work they did, Pietersen instrumental in England claiming one of, if not their most famous, away series victory in history.

“Some will never warm to him,” wrote Dobell. “They will question his motivation, his commitment and his loyalties. They will dislike his accent, his perceived brashness and, perhaps, his commercial success. But to deny him a place among the greats of cricket in the face of such evidence is like Picasso’s worth as an artist because he was occasionally rude to waiter.”