England gamble in trusting Dumbslog Milionaire Kevin Pietersen Given that a brief, lucrative exile in the Indian Premier League cuts a poor substitute for a decade in the gulag, perhaps Pietersen's robotic repentance was more reminiscent of the formulaic half-heartedness with which, year after year, Morgan Freeman made his futile application for release in The Shawshank Redemption. Thankfully, Mr Clarke is a more credulous and trusting soul than the Shawshank parole board. "In our society we believe that if an individual transgresses, and... recognises that and apologises ...," declared this Lord Longford of the Long Room, "then it is ... a fabric of our society that that individual should be given a real opportunity to be reintegrated into our society." Other cultures are less attached to this bleeding-heart liberalism than the one known so sparingly to Mr Clarke as "our society." Take the US, where Allen Stanford is serving time for his Ponzi scheme. Stanford may yet be reintegrated, of course, but having recently embarked on a 110-year sentence at the age of 63 the odds are not so brilliant. Mr Clarke has long since been forgiven, not least by himself, for allowing the Stanford helicopter to land on the sacred Lord's turf, and for accepting on cricket's behalf a small chunk of the stolen billions. Whether this was a more or less eccentric error than his subsequent decision to give the England captaincy to Pietersen, shortly before sacking him, is a close call. Pietersen is as self-evidently a narcissistic dimwit as Stanford - whose dodginess could not have been more blatant had he emerged from the chopper waving a cash-filled suitcase marked "Swag" - was a crook. While there is much to admire about Mr Clarke, not least his stewardship of that excellent bargain booze warehouse chain Majestic Wine, the form book militates against placing judgment of character on the credit side of the ledger. While wishing all concerned luck with the reintegration process, you have to wonder how long Pietersen will take to betray his Longfordian faith. Seldom is Glenn Hoddle cited as a paragon of common sense, but Glenda's omission of the sporadically brilliant but endlessly disruptive Paul Gascoigne from his 1998 World Cup squad seems much the wiser long-term template for handling Pietersen. Perhaps the IPL's "Dumbslog Millionare" genuinely has changed, and now wishes only to serve his adopted country with the loyalty and humility he so touchingly unveiled show this week. Considering how sorely the Test, one-day and Twenty20 teams need his ungodly natural talent, one very much hopes so. Had I been Clarke, however, I would have tied the yellow ribbon on the ole oak tree not to welcome him home, but metaphorically to fashion it into a makeshift noose around Pietersen's brass neck.