Pietersen to receive libel damages



England batsman Kevin Pietersen has accepted
substantial undisclosed libel damages over an
advert which implied he might have tampered
with his bat.
Opticians Specsavers used a photo of Pietersen in their
"Should have gone to Specsavers" adverts in August,
and on their Twitter and Facebook accounts.
The company accepted the 33-year-old did not behave
in the manner suggested.
Pietersen was not at London's High Court for the
settlement over the "serious and defamatory
allegation".
Specsavers had already removed the advert from
circulation, where it had appeared in various
newspapers, and also agreed to pay the Surrey player
substantial damages and his legal costs.
The company's solicitor Niri Shan said they did not
intend to imply that Pietersen may have tampered with
his bat and acknowledged that the allegation was
untrue and apologised for the distress and
embarrassment caused.
During the summer Ashes series against Australia,
Pietersen angrily denied reports - which emerged from
Channel Nine in Australia - claiming he may have used
special tape on his bat to prevent the detection of edges
by Hot Spot cameras, describing them as "horrible lies".
He also tweeted at the time: "How stupid would I be
to try to hide a nick when it could save me on an lbw
appeal, like in [the] first innings where Hot Spot
showed I nicked it."
Pietersen's solicitor Louise Prince said the allegations of
bat tampering were completely untrue and without any
foundation whatsoever.

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