Kevin Pietersen questions England’s sense of direction
Kevin Pietersen has questioned whether England know where they are going, saying their focus on one-day cricket risks alienating fans who care more about Test success.
The past two years have seen a vast improvement in England’s limited-overs form, with a team that suffered an embarrassing firstround exit at the 2015 World Cup now top of the one-day international rankings.
The form of Eoin Morgan’s side has been a huge boost to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who have staked a lot — including a contentious rejigging of the domestic season — on England winning the World Cup for the first time when the 2019 edition takes place on home soil.
But England’s white-ball rise has been accompanied by a dip in their Test results, with Joe Root’s men going down to a 4-0 Ashes defeat in Australia before a 1-0 series reverse in New Zealand.
England have prided themselves on being a tough Test side to beat in their own conditions but had to battle back to share a two-match series against Pakistan 1-1 after a thumping nine-wicket loss in the first Test at Lord’s.
And Pietersen said one-day success was being prioritised to the “detriment” of England’s Test-match form.
“I don’t know which direction they want to go in,” former England batsman Pietersen, who helped the side to a number of notable victories, said on Saturday.
“We won a T20 World Cup, we won the Ashes home and away, we beat India in India a few years ago,” added the 37year-old ex-England captain, who scored over 8,000 runs including 23 hundreds in 104 Tests at an average of 47.28.
“England haven’t won a 50over World Cup, I know that was the message a few years ago to do that and you can see they are driving towards that World Cup in England next summer, at the detriment of Test cricket. And I think it’s sad and frustrating for us as players who have played over 100 Test matches,” Pietersen explained.
“The public care a lot more about Test match cricket than they do about the shorter form of the game.
“The big series will continue to exist, the Ashes will be fine, India v Pakistan, Australia against South Africa.”
England face Scotland in a one-day international in Edinburgh on Sunday before their World Cup build-up continues with a five-match home ODI series against oldest rivals Australia.
This trip sees Australia in action for the first-time since their tour of South Africa when captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and batsman Cameron Bancroft were suspended for ball-tampering.