England-Pietersen row should have ended lot sooner: Ian Botham

Former England batsman Ian Botham has said the protracted row between controversial batsman Kevin Pietersen and the management should have ended a long time back, and both parties are responsible for blowing the issue out of proportion.

Botham said now that the saga has met its end, everyone related to this should move on, especially Pietersen, who should try his best to not disrupt England dressing room's harmony.

"Finally, someone has decided to take a bit of initiative and put this long-running and protracted saga to bed. Why on earth we are talking about Kevin Pietersen and a 're-integration' back into the team two months after he was left out of the side is beyond me," Botham wrote in his column for the Daily Mirror.

"This should have been sorted out weeks ago, like adults, and I think both sides have to take some responsibility for that. The good news is that England are going to have a world-class batsman back in their ranks, the bad news is that the drawn-out nature of this is going to make it very ­difficult for everyone involved to move on," he further wrote.

"I think Kevin (below) knows he made some mistakes in the way he went about things this summer and only he can put them right. He is going to have to show the rest of the dressing room that he is totally committed to what they are trying to do and that will take some doing," he added.

"His actions will have to speak louder than his words, so that the whole dressing room feels that they are going to work together against the opposition," he concluded.

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