LONDON, (Reuters) – South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis believes England will miss Kevin Pietersen who was dropped for the third and final test after sending Proteas players text messages criticising England team mates and staff. “He’s a world-class player and he’s proven that over many years – putting in big performances for England – so I’m sure he’s going to be missed,” Kallis told Sky Sports television.
“I don’t think it’ll affect him, I think he’ll bounce back and I think he’s still got a lot of cricket ahead of him. He’s too good a player to stay out of the international scene.”
But Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan said England would work better as a team without Pietersen in a match they must win to ensure they remain the world’s number one test nation.
“Just because you lose one player it doesn’t necessarily make you a weaker team,” said England off-spinner Swann in his Sun newspaper column yesterday.
“We all need to be pulling in the same direction – not 10 of us doing it and one of us not.”
Swann said England’s one-day results had improved since Pietersen gave up 50-over and Twenty20 international cricket in May. “Since Kevin retired from limited-overs cricket we are unbeaten in all matches in the shorter formats,” he said.
England paceman Bresnan said: “It may be an even better side. “It’s one of those things where a talented player has been replaced by another talented player. Why should we miss certain individuals just because they’re not available for selection?” Jonny Bairstow will replace Pietersen at Lord’s.
Pietersen had intimated after the second test that he intended to retire altogether from international cricket, only to issue a statement via a staged YouTube interview insisting he was still committed to playing for England.
The following day Pietersen, named man of the match at Headingley for his 149, was dropped for the final test because of the controversial text messages.
Bresnan said the spirit among the squad, who are 1-0 down in the series, had not been destabilised by the furore surrounding England’s most explosive batsman.
“We met up yesterday, the mood in the camp was exceptional. It’s just like it always is. Always relaxed, quite focused, but we’ve always got the driving desire to get that win,” he said. The Lord’s test starts tomorrow.
CAREER END?
There is media speculation that the row could spell the end of Pietersen’s international career but former England captain Michael Vaughan hoped the South African-born batsman would be given another chance. “If it’s true that he sent those texts it will take a long time for him to be allowed back,” Vaughan told BBC radio.
“It’s been a mad, but also a very sad, week for the England cricket team. There are no real winners but one very big loser and that’s Kevin Pietersen.”
In another twist to an increasingly embarrassing saga, Stuart Broad issued an official statement via the ECB website denying he had any involvement in a fake Twitter account using Pietersen’s name. Broad’s statement read: “Following last night’s statement by Mr Richard Bailey that he was responsible for creating a fake Twitter account in Kevin Pietersen’s name, I would like to confirm that I had no involvement in this whatsoever.
“I met with the Managing Director – England Cricket, Hugh Morris, this morning and assured him that I did not play any role in the creation of this account or provide Mr Bailey with any information regarding Kevin Pietersen or the England team.
“As has been widely reported Mr Bailey is a friend of mine, but we had no conversations regarding this issue at all and I am pleased that he has now decided to close the fake account down.”
Morris told the website he was “fully satisfied” Broad had not breached the confidence of any of his England team mates.
