Tim Bresnan: I didn't use Twitter to abuse Kevin Pietersen

 
War of words: Tim Bresnan has hit back
Tom Collomosse9 October 2014

Tim Bresnan today angrily rejected claims he was involved in a parody Twitter account used to mock former England team-mate Kevin Pietersen.

Bresnan was named by former England captain Alec Stewart last night as one of three players who had access to the infamous ‘KP Genius’ account, which Pietersen claimed in his autobiography was tantamount to bullying and reduced him to tears.

Stewart said he was told by the account’s creator, cricket fan Richard Bailey, that Bresnan, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann had access to it, meaning they could tweet from it to poke fun at Pietersen.

But former England bowler Bresnan hit back on Twitter today. He wrote: “Disappointed to be implicated in the #kpgenius account. I 100% did NOT have any password. And wasn’t involved in any posting.”

Pietersen’s supporters have used Stewart’s words to accuse the England and Wales Cricket Board of double standards. The parody account was running at the same time Pietersen was found to have been involved in a derisive text-message exchange about former captain Andrew Strauss with members of the South African team.

While Pietersen was carpeted and dropped from the England team for the Lord’s Test against South Africa in 2012, the ECB accepted Broad’s explanation about the account. Broad is a friend of Bailey but denied having any role in insulting Pietersen.

Hugh Morris, the ECB’s managing director of cricket at the time, accepted Broad’s explanation. Morris now works for Glamorgan and was unavailable when contacted for comment this morning.

Stewart corroborates claims made by Pietersen in his book that he had informed the batsman about the account. Stewart told the BBC: “It didn’t sit comfortably with me as an ex-England cricketer and an England fan that this type of thing might be going on. Not because I wanted them to get fined — I’ve huge admiration for all three — but it didn’t sit comfortably with me if factually correct.

“I had a conversation with Hugh Morris during the Oval Test match and then with [then England coach] Andy Flower at a later date. It was then down to the ECB to investigate things if they wanted to.”

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