Cricket: Kevin Pietersen ODI retirement ‘opens door’

Pietersen made the unexpected decision last week to quit ODIs and – because of a clause in his employment contract – T20s too but Gooch appears sanguine, convinced there are other developing talents.

“Life moves on – one door closes, another one opens,” he said. “You have got to look at it from a team point of view as an opportunity for someone else to make his mark.

“I would personally wish Kevin all the best – obviously he’s still going to play Test cricket – in whatever else he does. But that chapter of his career is finished now, and we have to look forward.”

The Windies are expected to push England harder in the forthcoming ODIs and T20s than they have in a Test series already wrapped up by the hosts.

But, first, they want to avoid a whitewash here and may have to do without their most reliable batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has kept England at bay longer than most this summer. He went to hospital yesterday for a scan on his sore side.

But a team spokesman said: “A day off gives him a chance to see how well he goes.”