(BBC) Kevin Pietersen has apologised for the outburst which followed his omission from England’s limited-overs squads for the series against Pakistan.

The 30-year-old batsman announced he had been dropped via Twitter, with his angry tweet including an expletive.

“It came out in the way that I didn’t want it to come out,” said Pietersen.

“It wasn’t meant for the public domain, I apologise for it entering the public domain and I also want to apologise for the language I used.”

Pietersen will not figure for England as they play two Twenty20 internationals against Pakistan on Sunday and Tuesday before five 50-over internationals between 10-22 September.

Instead, he will play county cricket for Surrey after being loaned out by Hampshire, with the England selectors hoping he will rebuild his game and confidence before this winter’s Ashes series.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan had criticised Pietersen – who hastily deleted the tweet after realising his mistake – for announcing his omission in such a manner.

“What he did on his Twitter account was totally wrong,” Vaughan told BBC Radio 5 live.

“I think that’s something Kevin will regret for a long time. I actually think that England have managed it in a good way.

“They feel that he needs more cricket and a couple of four-day games rather than playing the one-day series against Pakistan just to get that form and feel for batting again.

“I don’t see it as a dropping. I just see it as the management of a player who needs to be playing more of the longer format of the game than the one day to try to get him into some kind of form leading into the winter.”

Former South Africa all-rounder Clive Rice was instrumental in persuading the South African-born Pietersen to move to England and join his first county side Nottinghamshire in 2001.
Rice is concerned about Pietersen’s recent decisions, including his announcement in June that he no longer intended to play for county side Hampshire.

“I’m not surprised [he was dropped],” he told BBC Radio 5 live. “I was very concerned in June when he announced that he wasn’t going to play for any county and that he is just going to play for England.

“I’m sure that has annoyed many of the authorities running English cricket because you can’t have one player running away and thinking he can run the game the way he would like to run it.

“You have to be able to go away when you are out of form and to go back to a county to get it back.

“I just think Kevin’s mind, watching him play in the recent games, has been in a bad state because he hasn’t actually played. You can’t just turn up and play.

“He has to go and do the work. He has to play for Surrey and do an incredible amount of hard work to get himself back into form and get his head right.”

Asked if he thought Pietersen’s place against Australia could be in doubt, Rice answered: “I think for the rest of the season it can be in jeopardy unless he gets into form very quickly.”

Another ex-England skipper in Nasser Hussain believes England selectors are sending a message out that “it doesn’t matter who you are, if you take your eye off the ball you will be left out of the England cricket team”.

Speaking in his column for the Daily Mail, he added: “The bottom line is that Pietersen needs quality time in the middle in proper cricket and England feel this is the best way he can get that.”

However, former England paceman Darren Gough strongly disagrees with the way England have dealt with Pietersen as he struggles for form.

“He’s England’s best one-day player and what better way for him to get back into form than to go out against Pakistan and belt it,” Gough told Talksport .

“It’s absolutely pathetic that you can drop the man who was player of the tournament at the World Twenty20 earlier this year.”

Gough added: “If they don’t take him to the Ashes, we might as well just give Australia the urn.

“What would Australia have done? I didn’t see them drop Mike Hussey when he was struggling.

“I didn’t see them drop Michael Clarke when he went through a bad run of form. They stick with them because they’re world class.”