Cricket News: Kevin Pietersen Lashes Out At ECB For Deceiving Him About England Future
Surrey batsman was told by Strauss on Monday he was unlikely to play for England again.
Kevin Pietersen has lashed out at the treatment meted out to him by the England and Wales Cricket Board and its new director of cricket Andrew Strauss after the latter revealed that it was unlikely the batsman would ever play for England again.
Pietersen ended up in trouble with the ECB when he had a falling out with teammates and also reportedly sent defamatory messages about Strauss and then England coach Grant Flower to South African players during a series between the two teams in 2012. After a brief comeback, he was again dropped after the 2013-14 Ashes and hasn’t been picked since.
New ECB chairman Colin Graves had, a few months back, claimed that Pietersen could be in contention for a return if he played county cricket and performed well consistently. The stylish batsman then gave up on this year’s IPL and instead featured for Surrey in county cricket.
Pietersen met Strauss and ECB chief executive Tom Harrison on Monday evening to discuss his future with the national team, just after having scored a triple hundred for Surrey and was told by Strauss that it was unlikely he would feature for the national team again due to trust issues with the team, which has caused the 34 year old to hit out at the ECB.
"I have done everything I can. Was I lied to by the chairman? Only he can answer that. Tom Harrison and Andrew Strauss have said today that all three of them are united in this decision, so I don’t know what to think,” Pietersen wrote in his column for the Telegraph.
“Nobody has called me. I have given up my IPL contract, at great expense, to play in county cricket. Surrey did not have any funds free to pay me so I said I would play for nothing, just a donation to charity, and it is horrendous to feel I have been led down the garden path,” Pietersen added.
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