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Michael Atherton critical of Kevin Pietersen's 'bitter' autobiography

Kevin Pietersen
Image: Kevin Pietersen: His autobiography is a 'settling of scores' according to Michael Atherton

Former England captain Michael Atherton says he doubts the veracity of some of the claims in Kevin Pietersen's book and believes it is a 'bitter settling of scores'.

Pietersen told Sky Sports News HQ on Tuesday evening he stood by everything in his autobiography, in which he is highly critical of several former England teammates and former team director Andy Flower for their attitude and behaviour during the 5-0 Ashes whitewash last winter. 

Pietersen said Flower never made him feel welcome in the dressing room and played down the Zimbabwean's influence in England becoming the No 1 Test side in the world in 2010. 

But Atherton told SSNHQ that Flower's record as England coach speaks for itself. 

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Kevin Pietersen discusses at length the controversial parts of his autobiography,

"There was obviously a complete breakdown in the relationship between Andy Flower and Kevin Pietersen, but you have to look at the record," he said. 

"Andy Flower led England to an unprecedented period of success between 2010 and 2012 and according to Pietersen 95% of what he did was useless. You have to take that with a pinch of salt. This is a man who has got a more successful record than any professional coach England have ever had, so clearly he was doing some good things along the way.

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Kevin Pietersen stands by his recent accusations regarding Matt Prior and Andy Flower.

"It all ended acrimoniously with the whitewash in Australia, so things went bad towards the end, but I think everyone who has followed England cricket would look back at that peirod and recognise a successful, well-discisplined, well-drilled, harmonious team that was winning. That was under Andy Flower.

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"There are bits in the book where you wonder how much truth there is there because I've heard him talk in the past about fantastic team spirit and what a great coach Flower is, but clearly this is an end-of-career book that is very bitter about how his career ended and therefore is a settling of scores."

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