Piers Morgan has apologised for an ‘over the top’ comment he made about former England cricket captain Alastair Cook.
Morgan was a vocal critic of Cook after England decided to discard Kevin Pietersen following the Ashes whitewash of 2013-14.
Pietersen was still one of the best batters in the country at that stage but his enforced international retirement meant he finished his England career with just shy of 14,000 international runs and 32 centuries.
England’s former director of cricket Sir Andrew Strauss made the final decision to discard Pietersen but Cook was ‘involved in the original discussion’ given his role as captain.
Cook later criticised the ECB’s handling of the situation and said he ‘bore the brunt’ of the criticism from the fans who were furious at the decision to effectively retire an England great.
Others sympathised with the decision given Pietersen was at times a difficult character to manage and agreed with Cook that it was ‘the right time’ to move on.
Morgan was in the former camp and regularly criticised Cook on social media, even describing England’s greatest ever opener as a ‘weasel’.
The outspoken TV personality joined Cook on the latest episode of Betfair’s Stick to Cricket show and admitted he went ‘over the top’ in his criticism.
‘Me and Alastair fell out without ever meeting because I still feel that I felt that the whole thing was just really badly handled with Kevin Pietersen,’ Morgan said.
‘I loved watching Kevin Pietersen bat. He had been to me the greatest post war batsman we produced, certainly the most entertaining.
‘He was fit as a fiddle; he had been the top scorer in that series [against Australia] and yet he became the sacrificial lamb who never played for England again.
‘The real victim was the England cricket fan who would have loved another five years out of Kevin Pietersen.
‘I just felt the fact he never played again after 33 still to me feels like that should have been better handled.
‘I have to admit I was very full on against you Alastair personally without knowing you. And when I look back at some of the things I tweeted about you I know you’re not on social media, but I did go over the top.
‘So I will take this opportunity and apologise because I’m sorry for the weasel references.’
Speaking in 2018, Cook said the aftermath of the Pietersen decision was the ‘toughest time of his career’.
‘It was the toughest time of my career and there’s no doubt that it affected my batting,’ Cook, who scored 12,472 Test runs and 33 hundreds, told BBC Sport.
‘The day when Straussy came out and said Kevin wasn’t going to play for us anymore, that was a massive weight off my shoulders.
‘I was involved in the original decision, but the England captain doesn’t have the final say on hiring and firing.
‘I agreed with it, but I said “why don’t we give him some time off, we can go away and maybe KP can come back later on”.
‘Paul Downton, Strauss’ predecessor, wanted clarity and a clean break, because people would always be asking when is Pietersen coming back. You had to back his decision because that’s what his job was.
‘The fallout was pretty nasty and I don’t think the ECB handled it well or appreciated how social media worked back then. I bore a lot of the brunt of it, but I suppose that’s what being captain is.
‘I would refute anyone saying that I was the one that chucked Pietersen down the stairs, but I was involved in the decision and I believed it was right at that time. What could have happened a year later, I don’t know.
‘Looking back, I can safely say all the decisions I made were done for the best of the England cricket team at that time.
‘On that one, there were a lot of other people, way above my head, also involved in it. I felt like I was being left alone as the captain.
‘I haven’t spoken to Pietersen since that day, but I think time is a great healer. We spent a lot of time together and created some amazing memories.
‘As two blokes, if you take cricket out of it, we have never fallen out. Since then, the internet has fallen out for us. He will have a different opinion, I’m sure.’
Cook was England’s leading runscorer in Test cricket before being surpassed by current star Joe Root in 2024.
Root, who is preparing for another Ashes series in Australia, has since climbed to second in the all-time list, behind only India legend Sachin Tendulkar.
Pietersen remains England’s sixth-leading runscorer in Tests and is 33rd on the all-time list.
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