KP to face ECB hearing

Pietersen: Twitter rant

There'll be a disciplinary hearing about that, because we can't have situations like that happening.

Andy Flower on Kevin Pietersen's Twitter incident
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Kevin Pietersen may face disciplinary action over his foul-mouthed Twitter response to being dropped from the England team.

Pietersen was recently omitted from the national set-up for the upcoming Twenty20 and one-day series with Pakistan after struggling to find form throughout the summer.

However, the 30-year-old pre-empted the official England and Wales Cricket Board announcement by posting his displeasure in a Twitter post.

He wrote: "Done for the rest of the summer!! Man of the World Cup and dropped from the T20 side too. It's a **** up." The statement was quickly deleted.

England coach Andy Flower says he accepts that Pietersen - who apparently thought he was only writing to a small number of friends - made an honest mistake but still says there will be further action.

"He has (spoken to me). He says he made a bit of a mistake, and I'll take him at his word," Flower said.

Hearing

"But still there'll be a disciplinary hearing about that, because we can't have situations like that happening."

The last cricketer to commit a Twitter misdemeanour was England Under-19s captain Azeem Rafiq, whose obscene rant resulted in a one-month ban.

Although Pietersen's statement was not as rude or personal as Rafiq's, Flower recognises the need for consistency when dealing with such cases.

He added: "I didn't connect it at all with that (the Rafiq case). But yes, it is important to be consistent."

It is thought that the ECB were considering a blanket ban on Twitter but Flower sees no problem with the social networking service, as long as it is used responsibly.

"I don't quite see it myself. But if that's what they choose, we want to allow them the freedom to do that," the former Zimbabwe wicketkeeper said.

"But with that freedom comes responsibility, so they've got to use it responsibly. This is an example of not using it responsibly.

"Ideally, we'd like to leave them using it. Probably, after a couple of the latest incidents, we have to have a look at the guidelines along which they use that."