Kevin Pietersen’s England snub ludicrous - Hayden
The 34-year-old has not played for the national side since last winter’s dismal tour of Australia and had his central contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board terminated in February.
Pietersen has since expressed his desire to return to the England squad and did so again on Saturday following the appointment of Eoin Morgan as the one-day captain, after which he tweeted: “Great news that @Eoin16 is new England 1-day captain. Top player, leader and bloke. Hope I get to play for him.”
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Hide AdHowever, national selector James Whitaker said the door remains firmly shut to Pietersen, telling Sky Sports on Saturday: “The ECB management made a decision on Kevin in January and it is the same.”
ECB managing director Paul Downton also moved quickly to quell any hopes of a comeback.
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“We parted company with Kevin in January because throughout the ECB management, from the dressing room up to the board, it was felt that it was the right decision to go in a slightly different direction,” he said.
“If anything, more bridges have been burnt by Kevin’s book. There is no interest from our point of view in going backwards. We’ve got an exciting group of young players and Eoin’s excited to be working with those guys. He wants to fulfil that team’s potential.”
Pietersen showed off his batting skills last week with a 66 off 46 balls for Melbourne Stars in the opening match of the Big Bash League.
And Hayden has questioned the decision to freeze Pietersen out as England begin their preparations for a triangular series against Australia and India and the World Cup, which gets under way in February.
Hayden told BBC 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme: “I think it’s ludicrous that Kevin Pietersen isn’t in the England side, that’s just crazy.
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Hide Ad“One thing that I really love about him in the Big Bash League is his innovation.
“World Cups are won on innovative batting and we’ve seen that progression in thinking in batsmen, particularly because of the T20 format of the game. They’ve had to be really innovative, they’ve had to create different shots, and bowlers have never caught up with it.”
Morgan made a cameo appearance for Sydney Thunder yesterday in his first outing since his appointment as England one-day captain, contributing an unbeaten 12 in their resounding 56-run victory over Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League.
The Middlesex batsman will lead England in the tri-series against Australia and India in January ahead of the World Cup.
Veterans Michael Hussey (96) and Jacques Kallis (97 not out) had already done the leg work for Sydney in a record-breaking opening partnership of 160 before Morgan arrived at the crease for the final three overs, in which he faced five balls and smashed a four and a six.
That left Brisbane chasing a victory target of 209, but they were unable to rise to the challenge and were skittled out for 152 within 18 overs.
Andrew Flintoff was making his Big Bash debut for Brisbane but it was a performance to forget as the former England all-rounder conceded 25 runs in the two overs he bowled and was then dismissed for a duck.
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