ECB POLITICS KEEPING COOK IN, SAYS KP

SOUTHAMPTON: Kevin Pietersen has become the latest former England skipper to urge Alastair Cook to quit captaincy, saying he was only still in the job because it would be “yet another PR disaster” for the England and Wales Cricket Board to sack him. Pietersen, despite being England’s all-time leading run scorer and their top-scorer during their 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia, was the only player to be axed by England after their return home from Australia. At the time, the ECB cited the need to support Cook’s captaincy as a reason for ditching Pietersen. And the South Africaborn batsman said a fear of being seen to go back on that decision was the key reason why Cook was still captain.

“At the moment only politics are keeping Cook in a job because the ECB backed him so much that it would be yet another PR disaster if it sacked him now,” Pietersen wrote in a column.

“But the ECB needs his runs back more than anything else so a big decision has to be made. Forget the bad headlines for once,” he said.