I Lost Respect for Kevin Pietersen Over his 'Embarrassing' Antics - James Taylor

Former England batsman James Taylor has admitted he lost respect for Kevin Pietersen as a result of some “embarrassing” antics from his team-mate after a Test match in 2012.

Meanwhile, Taylor had to retire from cricket at the age of 26 following a heart problem, which could have claimed his life during his cricketing career.

Recently, he wrote an autobiography ‘Cut Short’, where he has written about his first England Test – the second Test against South Africa at Headingley.

Taylor (34) stitched an important partnership with Pietersen (149) in the Leeds Test, however, the former was in shock after the Test.

Taylor thought the press conference will all about Pietersen’s knock but it was not the case.

Talking about it now, post his retirement,  he feels those antics were embarrassing.

“Playing for England had been my absolute dream. Now, having done it, my overriding thoughts were utter disbelief as to how Kevin had behaved in that press conference. Put simply, I found his antics embarrassing,” the Daily Telegraph reported.

Lost respect for him:

Taylor reportedly admitted that his teammates and coaches informed him that Pietersen didn’t want him in the team.

However, Taylor had seen the light and completely lost respect for his fellow batsman.

“The England dressing room at that time wasn’t in a good place. KP at that point just didn’t seem a team player. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I first experienced being in the same team as him. I couldn’t believe how he behaved. The scales had well and truly fallen from my eyes,” he added.

Meanwhile, Taylor played seven Tests and 27 One-day Internationals scoring 312 and 887 runs respectively for England.

The Nottinghamshire-based middle-order batsman James Taylor scored 9,306 runs in 139 first-class games and 5,365 runs in 136 List A fixtures.

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