Ex-England paceman Harmison backs KP's 'bullying culture' claims

Retired England fast bowler Steve Harmison has backed ousted batsman Kevin Pietersen's claims that there was a bullying culture in the dressing room.

Harmison also believes that Ashley Giles missed out on England coach's job because of his relationship with Pietersen. Peter Moores had been named as Andy Flower's replacement in April, and Harmison believes that Giles got overlooked for supporting Pietersen, who had been sacked eight months ago.

Harmison said that he thinks backing Pietersen cost Giles the coach's job, and added that he saw Giles the other day and it's great that he is still in cricket with a great job at Lancashire, The Guardian reported.

Harmison said that Giles would have walked into that interview and told the ECB that he knows Pietersen, played with him and would get the best from him. He added that that sealed his fate.

The former paceman said that the ECB should have been upfront with Giles about their plans for Pietersen.

Pietersen alleged in his autobiography, which was released last week, that the wicketkeeper Matt Prior and senior bowlers Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann bullied teammates to apologise for misfields and dropped catches during matches.

While Swan and Prior denied those accusations, Harmison said that he was aware of divisions within the team and that not enough was done to stop it, although he did not feel that the ousted batsman was a victim of bullying despite his hurt over the controversial @KPgenius Twitter account.

Harmison said that the culture of bullying had to be nipped in the bud, adding that it wasn't which made it a big mistake. He said that it was allowed to go on and on, until Pietersen clearly believed the other senior players were against him.

However, Harmison said that he struggled a bit to see Pietersen as a bullying victim, adding that that is hard to picture.

Harmison added that he is not saying Pietersen was a bully but he saw for himself the way the batsman could behave towards guys that weren't up to it.