First things first. Yes, it is a shame that there is a KP-shaped hole in English and international cricket. And yes, it is a shame that ECB obfuscation, however much a result of legal restrictions, has left a vacuum for the likes of Piers Morgan to fill. Nobody is coming out of this smelling of roses, and there remain so many unanswered questions.

Chief among them is this: What exactly has KP done? But maybe, by concentrating on what he is alleged to have done, we are missing the point. He may not have done anything other than be himself. The same self that has managed to undermine the leadership and team unity of every team he has ever played for. So when Paul Downton said “the time is right to rebuild not only the team but also the team ethic,” the implication was clear. Whether you agree with it or not, the ECB has made a judgement call – a decision which they will live or die by.

For what it’s worth, my take on it is that KP should have been sacked after the “textgate” affair of 2012. And I think he would, had Andrew Strauss not retired, and Alastair Cook not insisted on reintegrating him. With a trip to India and an Ashes double-header on the horizon it made cricketing sense. Perhaps I am being overly cynical, but it also made economic sense. KP has always been box-office.

It was always going to be a marriage of convenience, however, and perhaps the analogy of marriage is instructive throughout KP’s career. The whirlwind romance of the One Dayers in South Africa. The celebrity wedding of the 2005 Ashes. The honeymoon period of England and KP taking on the world. The power struggle over who should wear the trousers/captain’s armband. The seven year itch when KP flirted with the IPL. The trial separation. The reconciliation. And now the divorce.

And maybe it is also a divorce of convenience. For all that it is an incredibly brave call to get rid of a player of such undoubted ability and popularity, it could be argued that it is as convenient a time as any to dispense with KP. It is very much the end of an era for what has, lest we forget, been a highly successful England team, and KP isn’t getting any younger. Or, it would seem, any easier to manage. Perhaps, as well, his knee isn’t getting any better, and maybe his batting is on the wane. The argument that he was the leading run-scorer in the Ashes doesn’t wash. Statistically, he may have been the least awful of England’s batsmen, but he often threw his wicket away in exasperating fashion, and nobody is making a case for Michael Carberry to be retained on the strength of being the second highest run-scorer.

Would KP see it as a divorce of convenience? Who knows, but he won’t be overly inconvenienced by a fat IPL contract, and he retains the adoration of much of the English public – something I suspect he craves more than anything. It is his curse that he has often been far from loveable, and it seems that the love affair between KP and England is well and truly over.

As is so often the case in messy divorces, it is the kids that suffer the most. For kids read fans.