Let the 'textgate' truth come out

There is a lot of conjecture, accusation and indignation surrounding the Kevin Pietersen "textgate" scandal.

The best possible way to clear up this mess and stop the finger-pointing in both directions is surely to leave emotion out of it and deal squarely with the facts of the case.

The first thing that should be established is who Pietersen's text messages were sent to in the South African camp. The inference is that they were sent to members of his IPL team among others.

Once this comes to light the next step would be to ascertain what the content of the messages was. Again speculation suggests that the content was harmful to the England captain and the coach.

Then it should be established exactly how these messages became part of the public domain.

Did Kevin Pietersen tell someone in the England camp about the text messages? If so were they responsible for bringing the messages to the attention of the British media or did one of the South African players or management who were privy to the information in some way or other make it public? This is the crux of the matter.

Both the ECB and CSA clearly feel strongly about the matter. It is possible these days to get hold of the content of text messages sent. Should either party want to exonerate themselves or strengthen their case maybe the time has come to go public with the exact facts rather than have a mud-slinging contest that benefits no-one.

Only once the truth has been established can the merits of the case be truly judged. What is certain though is that the speculation surrounding the situation is covering no-one in glory. The current situation is not helping CSA, the ECB or indeed the players. This situation needs to be put to rest as soon as possible.

The only way to do that is to reveal the absolute truth. Someone knows exactly what happened. It is time to come out with it.