Swann reveals Twitter threats

Graeme Swann
12 April 2012

England spinner Graeme Swann claims he was sent death threats via Twitter in the aftermath of his side's one-day mauling by India.

A 5-0 series whitewash burst England's bubble following a summer of domination over the Indians and Swann has revealed he bore the brunt of some fans' frustrations.

He told the Sun: "Although I don't condone death threats on Twitter, I could almost understand it when I had a couple of hundred people threatening all manner of retribution after Tuesday's match."

He added: "Not everyone in cyberworld has a perspective - after all, it is only a game of cricket. But you can almost understand why people get wound up.

"It can't be easy to watch us, not just losing but losing the way we did."

England's latest 50-over capitulation, in which they lost 10 wickets for just 47 runs, came in the aftermath of Swann releasing his autobiography, in which he criticised the leadership skills of former captain Kevin Pietersen, who remains a key part of the England side.

Team director Andy Flower suggested his players should wait until the end of their careers before penning their memoirs, but Swann insists his book has had no impact on team morale.

"England have endured a horror month but I can state right now it has nothing to do with what I wrote about Kevin Pietersen in my book," Swann, who will lead England in Saturday's one-off Twenty20 international added.

"People have claimed my observation that KP is not a natural leader and should not have captained England has caused dressing-room divisions and a breakdown in team spirit. Well, anybody who thinks that does not know this England team.

"The reason we lost the one-day series 5-0 to India is because we've been outplayed in conditions which suit the home team. No excuses, we've been hammered."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in