JOHANNESBURG, Oct 8: Cricket South Africa (CSA) have dismissed claims their players instigated the text-message row that led to batsman Kevin Pietersen being dropped by England.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive David Collier told BBC radio on Sunday that Pietersen’s texts to South African players during the recent test series were in response to messages from the opposition.

“This is absolute rubbish,” CSA’s acting chief executive Jacques Faul said in a statement on Monday. “What is particularly disappointing is that I had a face-to-face meeting with Mr Collier when I was in London for the Lord’s Test.

“He did not raise this allegation with me then and I would have thought as a matter of courtesy and decency he would have spoken to me about it before going public in the media.”—Reuters