KP SNUBS COOK TRIBUTE

KEVIN PIEtERsEN was one of only four former England team-mates who did not participate in a video tribute to Alastair Cook this week.

the Professional Cricketers’ Association collected congratulatory messages to Cook on his record-breaking England career from 70 of the 74 players who have taken the field with him during his 12-year international career.

A 10-minute selection of some of the best comments was shown to the England players and backroom staff at the Oval on the eve of the test, with Cook calling it ‘incredibly humbling’.

the unedited version runs to 40 minutes, with the longest tributes coming from Joe Root and Andrew strauss. Luke Reynolds, the PCA’s communications and marketing executive who came up with the idea and executed it in three days, intends to send a copy to Cook.

It’s understood Pietersen declined even to reply to the PCA request. Cook said this week that he felt the ECB had made him the scapegoat for KP’s exile after the 2013-14 Ashes whitewash.

the other three non-contributors were former captain Andrew Flintoff, who was on holiday, one-cap bowler Darren Pattinson, who lives in Australia, and Michael Carberry, sacked as Leicestershire captain earlier this season.

Meanwhile, Cook’s desire for a lack of fuss over his retirement will see surrey deliver their gift of a bottle of 2006 Bordeaux, the year of his England debut, to his farm in Bedfordshire rather than have yet another presentation at the Oval.