England might be out of the Cricket World Cup but they still provide the combatants for potentially the tournament’s biggest flashpoint, with arch-enemies Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann set to come face to face in the Test Match Special commentary box. Pietersen, who is being loaned to TMS for radio stints by his World Cup employers Fox Sports, will work alongside Swann for the first time at the Auckland semi-final a week on Tuesday. And the powderkeg confrontation between the ex-England team-mates, whose relationship disintegrated in the fall-out from the 2013-14 Ashes whitewash, has been given spice with the possibility KP might now return to county cricket and the national team. Graeme Swann and Kevin Pietersen, once happy team-mates, are not longer on such good terms . Swann and Pietersen are to help commentate on Test Mach Special for the World Cup semi-finals next week . Swann has accused KP of ‘upsetting people wherever he goes’, says the ECB were ‘justified’ in terminating his England contract and calls Pietersen’s autobiography a ‘work of fiction’. Despite the history, TMS producer Adam Mountford is hopeful there will be no trouble between the pair on the day, saying: ‘They’re adults, I’m sure they’ll behave professionally.’ If Pietersen were to pull out of the IPL and re-sign for Surrey, his most likely replacement at Sunrisers Hyderabad is Kumar Sangakkara. The Sri Lankan — Surrey’s overseas player — is only an IPL reserve despite four straight World Cup hundreds. Pietersen has announced his intention to return to county cricket to try and get back in the England set-up . The Six Nations is a rare BBC sporting event not involving Clare Balding. However, Scotland’s blond back-row forward David Denton answers to the nickname ‘Balding’ because of his hairstyle. England’s beleaguered cricket coach Peter Moores, with a reputation for being obsessed with statistics, is likely to be remembered for supposedly saying after the World Cup defeat against Bangladesh: ‘We thought 275 was chaseable, we’ll have to look at the data.’ Peter Moores came under fire for his 'data' response, but he actually said 'we'll have to look at that later' However, what Moores actually said to Test Match Special reporter Ali Mitchell was: ‘We’ll have to look at that later.’ Moores did mention data when interviewed by Sky Sports. Paul McGinley’s leadership insight that so impressed guests at the League Managers Association President’s Dinner last week included the revelation that he persuaded the European Tour to pair some of his potential Ryder Cup partnerships during regular tournaments — without them realising — to see how they gelled. Ryder Cup winning captain Paul McGinley has revealed he got the European Tour to help him test pairings . MCC plot with Cubans . Fidel Castro’s Communist Cuba is an unlikely ally of the MCC in their battle to repel property developers Rifkind Levy Partnership. The MCC hope to block RLP’s building plans behind the Warner Stand at Lord’s by switching a 10-year lease to Cuban Embassy staff. The £8m house earmarked for Cuba personnel is the home of MCC secretary Derek Brewer, who would transfer to the MCC-owned house on Grove End Road currently occupied by the Cubans. The MCC have further kept RLP at bay by buying another well-placed house on the same street. Christian Purslow may not want to leave Chelsea, where he heads their global commercial operation, having secured a £220million shirt sponsorship deal with Yokohama Rubber since arriving in October. It’s understood, though, that former Liverpool managing director Purslow is on the short-list to succeed George O’Grady as chief executive of golf’s European Tour. Twickenham, building up for the Rugby World Cup, have installed a football-style mixed zone which rugby players, far more approachable than their football counterparts, have to walk through while the media are kept behind ropes. Twickenham has introduced a mixed zone for rugby players, but how long before it becomes like football? Sadly, it can only be a matter of time before rugby players wear headphones or talk on their mobile to avoid being interviewed. Former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson has made a good start as manager of Chinese Super League side Shanghai East Asia, where he is understood to be earning as much as £6m a year. Eriksson is said to still need the money, after being swindled out of £10m by a crooked financial advisor and facing big demands from HMRC over tax from film investments. Sven Goran Eriksson is understood to be earning around £6million a year as Shanghai East Asia manager .
Kevin Pietersen fell out with Graeme Swann when they played for England . Both ex-England players will be commentating for the BBC in semi-finals . TMS producer Adam Mountford hopeful there will be no trouble . Pietersen is hoping to return to national team after playing county cricket .