Kevin Pietersen's resignation as England's captain has been accepted, when he says that he has neither resigned nor was told by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), he is sacked.
 
Now he is probably regretting why he ever resorted to a well known British Empire game of divide and rule, which he is not skilled at. After all, he is an immigrant, who has been given citizenship and because of his batting skills, even the captaincy. Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan, a true-blooded Englishman, would have not tried this gambit with the ECB, because he would have known it cannot succeed.
 
Pietersen, who was born in South Africa and learnt the game there, has probably not read enough of English history in which there are numerous instances of those in government using this tactic in controlling subjugated nations. And the tactic was based on playing people off against one another. Well, Pietersen tried this tactic and it backfired as it was expected to do.
 
The ECB will have the last laugh as Pietersen already realises, as he has expressed a desire to get back the captaincy. It is hardly likely he will get back the job because he has violated the basic principles of team-spirit and then threatened the establishment with a he or I ultimatum with reference to the sacked coach Peter Moores. The ECB's stand which is clear and unequivocal, is, "Moores goes, and so do you.
 
Pietersen did not expect this response from the ECB and will discover that life will get tougher as time goes on. The English are not inclined to accept people who do not fall in line and as far as the bosses in the ECB are concerned, Pietersen has not done so. When a proper Englishman like Nasser Hussein (forget the name) warned Pietersen that he had better deal with the ECB directly, instead of making demands while on holiday in South Africa, the discarded captain should have taken the hint. The truth is, his divide and rule game failed.