Test Match Special - Kevin Pietersen - back in England colours

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen is back on England duty, this time as a mentor, and tells Henry Moeran he's "absolutely loving" his time working with the side.

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from live streaming the BBC News Channel and acclaimed documentaries to in-depth analysis and features. Visit BBC.com forward slash subscribe to find out more. The TMS podcast on BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to a special test match, special podcast featuring Kevin Peterson, who is England's new or newish white ball mentor. He's been speaking publicly for the first time since he was appointed. And Henry Moran, our chief cricket reporter, has been speaking to him.

Henry, just to remind us of the context here, when was KP appointed and what was he appointed to do? Well, that's quite an interesting question because sometimes when we hear that someone is becoming a mentor of a side, we wonder what that involves. Does it just mean that there's a potential lack of involvement in terms of responsibility or are you coaching day to day? You're just there as a listening voice. But what we do know is he's been very much around the England camp. he's been in training gear, he's been at nets, he's been clearly building quite a strong relationship with Brendan McCullum. Interesting in its own way, that because they had this, not a falling out, but Peterson was quite critical of the approach of the Basball period of English cricket. And so, yeah, it's been very interesting to see how his involvement has been, but I would say very hands-on since joining us this specialist mentor for this white ball series against Sri Lanka.

so that was only a couple of weeks ago now but he's been absolutely front and centre since taking up that role. And Brendan McCullum front and centre in his appointment? Very much so, yeah, and we'll learn more about that from Kevin Peterson shortly and how that came about.

But yeah, absolutely. Brendan McCollum turned around and said, I want this guy as part of the set up. He's in England legend and he's somebody that is a born winner, fabulous talent as we know, particularly in whiteball cricket. And so, yeah, absolutely. That's part of of how that's all come about was Brendan McCullough being a very eager voice

in wanting to make sure that Peterson and his abilities was something that England could tap into. Okay, let's hear from Kevin Peterson. You've been speaking to him. What did you start with? Well, I started by asking that very question, Simon. How did this all come about? I got a call from Brendan.

I don't know when it was, a month ago, six weeks ago. And I thought I was in trouble. I thought, oh no, here we go. and it was just a discussion around whether or not I wanted to work with the whiteball team in trying to win a World Cup in South Africa and that's where it all began. Very, very simple, very, very easy and here we are. What was your reaction when you got that call?

My reaction, and I know where you're going with us, after everything I'd said, was I was surprised, but knowing Brendan way more now having been with him as much as I've been with him and communicated with him over the last month or so, I think that it was, it's encouraging to know that we are in a dressing room where people don't mind being challenged, people don't mind points of view. and that's the world where we're sitting in right now trying to push each other to be the best versions of ourselves and so he actually I suppose was very brave in wanting to engage he did because he wanted to have a point of view that might have differed from his like it has done in the past

but actually we're very very similar very very similar the way we played it's probably the way that we are and so yeah it's it's it's it's actually been the most wonderful two weeks so far incredibly incredibly positive and really really good why um perception is not always reality so my perception of team england and everything that we read not that i believe everything that we read i have history uh is is the reality is the reality and it's certainly not been the reality. The bunch of guys that are downstairs in the dressing room are so eager to learn,

ask so many questions, I asked the right questions, having been around the game for a very long time, I've referenced some of the greatest players and the way that they go about themselves and asking the right questions at the right time to be the best versions of themselves. And so the perception of Team England when I came, was not great but the perception is not always reality and the reality that I

see is great having been in for the last two weeks and speaking to Harry and speaking to the senior players and watching the young players and working with them as much as I can work with them on the field and off the field it's been it's been remarkable actually and I've loved it I've absolutely loved it I mean some of my best moments in the English team were working with Joe and Johnny Bester on their first tours of India and batting with Joe in that first test match in Nagpur. Those are some of my best moments,

just batting and helping youngsters. And now I just get to do this all the time, which is so cool. I can see it's ignited a fire, isn't it? I absolutely. I mean, you guys know, I think, Adam, you would have been on those tours. But it's the kind of stuff that right now really gets me up. Because having worn almost every shirt that England has, the good, the bad and the ugly, I've got sort of experience in all departments. And I can speak from experience, which I always like to do.

And these guys are asking so many questions. And I love the fact that they are committed to being better versions of themselves every single day. And that's what I've signed up for, to try and get the best out of these guys every single day. And what are you looking to impart upon them? Is it the psychology of it? Is it the batting technique of it all? Technique to a certain degree. I mean, we did a beautiful session the other day just on spin.

But moreover, building match winners, and just helping these guys understand that these are the best years of their lives. They really are the best years. And they've got to enjoy what they've got now. I mean, they're playing in front of full houses. playing for England, wearing the England badge, and they are the best years of your life. And so don't take it for granted.

And by not taking it for granted, it means try and be that best version of yourself every single day. And that comes with responsibilities on the field, off the field, and the team that I'm working with at the moment underneath Brendan is so committed to that. And that's a huge, huge positive.

And as you say, asking lots of questions, because you're somebody that I know a number of them have told us you were there idling, 2005. And so, you know, you do have, of course, the respect of this team. Respect is, I mean, respect is earned, right? And hopefully I am earning their respect because of the way that I am being in the rooms. And when I was with Delhi last year as a mentor, I mean, I just spent the first few weeks. listening. And that's exactly what I'm doing now. I'm making my way around the players, building friendships, building connections, listening to them, watching how they operate. I'm in the two ears and one mouth zone. Listen twice as much as you speak. And that's something that's giving me a lot of

energy, actually, just learning new things from new players. And if they're wanting to ask questions, which many of them are, I'm trying my hardest to answer them. What have you learned from them? that perception isn't always reality and how they are perceived by the England fan and how I perceive this England team is actually not the reality and that's something that's given me a lot of energy and I hope the England fan understands that and can watch by the way that these guys are going about their business at the moment against Sri Lanka that we are committed to trying to be the best team we can be the hardest working team, the most robust team, and the fittest team. These were a few things that I mentioned to Brenn before coming into the dressing room was about how all I knew was being the fittest and working my backside off to try and be the best player I could possibly be. And I said that that's something that I can bring to the environment underneath him and be led by him on it. And he was all he is. And he said, absolutely. He said, the only way we can try and get to a final or a semifinal or maybe do

something great in South Africa next year is to be super fit and be dedicated to one job. And at the moment, that's all I see. How good is Harry Brook? Outstanding. Absolutely outstanding. And I saw that when I was commentating on the Northern Superchargers years ago, he hit a ball outside the off stump through cover. The next ball, same place.

Hit him through Midwicked. And I remember on air saying, who is this? Because he's good. He's very, very good. And to be up close and personal to a bloke like that, again, is something that is fun because he is damn good. How good could he be? What heights can he scale? I ask that not just as a cricketer, but also as a captain and leader.

Again, I'm only seeing good things. I'm seeing somebody who's wanting information. I've seen a lot of leaders that don't want information and it's all about them and I see Harry Brooke wanting information asking for information, asking for help he's in his 20s so he's only going to get better and better and better

he's got the best years in his career ahead of him and so I find it just an absolute pleasure to be able to watch somebody as good as him because there's not many players in the world that can do what he does with a bat. And then obviously as a leader, he's learning in that role. He's accepted the responsibility.

And I do see a responsible person there. So the Harry that everyone talked about six months ago, nine months ago, 12 months ago, I don't see that guy. And I can only comment firsthand on actually seeing what I see. Can I win the World Cup a year from that? Anybody can win the World Cup. We've got a lot of work to do. anybody can win the World Cup

there's some wonderful teams out there we're certainly going to set we set our stall out to try our absolute hardest to do it if we do it we do it if we don't we don't but one thing's for sure is that this England team is going to be as fit an England team that's ever played in a World Cup and what I love about this team is that

the work the good work that McCullum and Key have done over the last few years in making sure that there's depth in positions is probably not the story that a lot of people write. But if you have a look at this England whiteball team, you've got a lot of strength and depth in all positions. And you've got guys, you've got Bethel injured. You've got a current who's injured.

I mean, you've got superstars outside the team, but at the moment we've got a pack squad with match winners. And I think that's not a story that's written often enough about all the work that's gone on behind the scenes. And you've got fast bowlers. We've got three or four fast bowlers, five fast bowlers about 90 mile an hour. So, of course, we've got a chance like everybody's got a chance.

Whether it happens, I have no idea whether it happens, but I'm approaching the next 12 months like I approached my career, and Brendan's approaching in exactly the same way. It is all about making sure that we are the best versions of ourselves every single day in order to deliver. Success is not a given. We fail way more than we're successful. Sounds to me like you're going to be there for the journey.

I'm a consultant. And so I'm there for portions of it. I'm not there all the time. I can't commit all the time. They understand that. They know that. So I'll be in and I'll be out. And that's something that I've said that I have to be.

I've got lots of other things that happen in my life. I'm very busy. But what I love is that when I'm on with England, I'm on with England. But that's certainly not full-time. And just finally, are you as excited by this as you were in your playing days wearing the three lines? Does this sort of environment and opportunity inspire you in the way that playing? Did you see me smile there?

You know what excites me more? I don't have to bat. So I don't have to deal with you lot hammering me from my batting. That's the best thing about this is I have to. have no responsibility listening and reading to your rubbish. All I've got to do here is help these guys try and be the best versions of themselves and never walk out to bat. So yes, you can see me grinning from ear to ear because I find a lot of comfort and satisfaction

in helping Baz and working with him to try and bring the best out of all of these guys over the next 12 months. Sounds. Growing businesses deal with the same problem. Too many tools, too much back and forth, and not enough time. Odu helps bring it all together. It's an all-in-one business management platform, fully integrated from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, so your team can spend less time chasing information and focus on growth. Whether you're in retail, manufacturing, or service, Odo gives you one place to manage your business. Visit Odo.com to book a demo. It's OD00.com.

With a subscription to the BBC website and app, you can now get early access to your favorite BBC podcasts. Listen to shows like, You're Dead to Me, In Our Time, good bad billionaire, and more. Plus, there's all the other great benefits you get with a BBC subscription, from live streaming the BBC News Channel and acclaimed documentaries to in-depth analysis and features. Visit BBC.com forward slash subscribe to find out more.

Well, that's Kevin Peterson. Lots to get our teeth into there. You talked to him about his previous criticism of the team, and he obviously dealt with that. Yeah, and he did, and he was quite candid in the way that he spoke about how, you know, at times he had a bit of a misconception about what he'd seen from this England team.

I think it's a really interesting bit of honesty from Kevin Peterson saying that, you know, he knows Brendan way more now, not much necessarily communication with him prior to joining the England set up and now that he has that he really does get more of an insight. I thought it was very interesting what he said about the perceptions of the team as well and how since coming in and joining the setup, he gets much more of understanding of how seriously this team takes it. And also I think he was quite keen to get that message out there that this is a team that takes its cricket very seriously. And sometimes from the outside looking in misconceptions can be.

wrong and he acknowledged that his own perception of the England team wasn't necessarily correct. So I think that was an interesting little insight into not just what he was thinking, but also the message he wants to get out there. What about the extent of his role? I mean, I think we knew he wasn't going to Pakistan, but I think my perception was that he was going to be involved in all of England's whiteball preparations whenever they have a series anywhere in the world until the next World Cup. Well, he said, I'm not there all the time. I can't commit all the time they understand that and they know that and I'll be in and out but the way that he was speaking and talking about so passionately England and their potential success and the future of what

world cup success could look like tells me that he really is very very keen on on being a part of the England set up for for a lot longer than this initial period and one thing that I really was struck by was the passion in his eyes and sometimes you don't necessarily certainly getting that coming across purely as an audio interview. But just the way he was looking at me and the way he was smiling when talking about the players told me that there was actually a real sense of this is something I'm enjoying. This is a absolute sort of passion of mine. And yeah, of course there was the knockabout stuff at the end about the pressure that he no longer faces in terms of the scrutiny for his batting.

But he is, yeah, clearly in it for the long haul. in some way, shape or form. But as he says, he's got a lot of commitments in life and he's not going to be able to be on every tour. But you sense when it comes to the real big prep from what we've seen over the last few weeks in terms of his involvement, but also what he's said to me in that interview,

there is just that feeling that he wants to be quite a significant part of this England white ball set up going forward. And what about the comparisons between him and Harry Brooke? It's an interesting one. He was very, very positive about Brooke as a cricketer and mentioned the first time he saw him play, of the northern superchargers in the 100

and how good he thought he was, but also interesting what he said about Harry Brooke as a leader, I thought was a fascinating part of it. And he says he sees Harry Brook wanting information, wanting to be that sponge, and the fact that he's in his 20s and is going to get better and better. It's clearly something that will be quite a crucial part

of that dynamic and that leadership dynamic between McCullum, Peterson and Brooke, is making sure that relationship is really, good. Any of the messages that we're hearing from Kevin Peterson there that he really is embracing Harry Brooke, that is, getting that information from Kevin Peterson asking questions as all of the team seem to be, then that can only be a good thing for England going forward and actually suggests that there is quite a lot of comparisons that can be made not just with Harry Brooke as a cricketer and how he plays his cricket to Kevin Peterson, but also as quite a student of the art

of batting and wanting to get a lot better and develop all of these skills that we saw Peterson not just develop and manage to perform so wonderfully well, but also those additional skills that he learnt as he went. Coy about England's chances in the World Cup and that's why he's been brought in, isn't it?

It's to help England as they progress towards the 50-over World Cup in South Africa and Kevin Peterson, he's had a lot of success in South Africa as an England player. He grew up in South Africa, but just raining back when asked about England's chances of winning the World Cup in in South Africa. I mean, look, England

have been poor at one day cricket for a while. They're just getting their act together. It seems at just the right time. Yeah, and he was not going to be drawn and say, yes, I think we can win the World Cup. He knows the headlines that would come from that. But he says, anyone can win the World Cup, but England will be the fittest they can possibly be and as well prepared as they can possibly be. Look, England, of course, will be in the mix of teams that can win the World Cup. There's too much whiteball talent for them,

to be. And I think that what Kevin Peterson is saying is that he is so enthusiastic about making sure these players can be as good as they possibly can be in that quest. And look, we've seen it before when Kevin Peterson wears England colours going to South Africa. And his debut performances for England, he scored big runs against South Africa in South Africa. He doesn't mind going back to the country of his birth wearing the colours of England and seeing success. So, yeah, I think that he will back England to do very well in that. tournament whether they will win it of course we'll have to wait and see a year from now is a long time away but seems to me that peterson really does believe there's an awful lot to come from this team

thanks very much henry that's it for this episode don't forget to subscribe to BBC sound so whenever there is a test match special podcast you are notified of it straight away the TMS podcast on BBC sounds come to the haunted library have you come in search of a tale This podcast invites you to browse the shelves and find stories that will linger long after you've left this place. From Gothic masterpieces to Pulpy Penny Dreadfuls, join me, Colin Morgan with new episodes twice a week. Find the Haunted Library wherever you get your podcasts.