Kevin Pietersen video: Former England batsman 'p***ed off' with 'pathetic' decision to drop Ian Bell
Pietersen posted a video of himself reacting to the decision to leave Bell out of the squad to tour South Africa
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Your support makes all the difference.Kevin Pietersen has launched a scathing attack on England’s decision to drop Ian Bell from the squad that will travel to South Africa for a four-Test tour, claiming that the batsman has not been afforded the same faith that captain Alastair Cook was afforded during his run of poor form.
Bell is without a Test century in his last 23 innings, and his average of 25.95 over his 13 matches in 2015 is well short of his career figures of 42.69.
However, 33-year-old Bell is a veteran of 118 Tests, and he has played a role in five Ashes series victories for England that dates back to the famous 2005 series.
But with Bell out of form and England searching for runs following a series defeat to Pakistan this month, the selectors have decided to recall Gary Balance for the Test series with the world No 1 side, while opener Nick Compton has also been recalled to the squad.
It’s a decision that has left Pietersen “p***ed off”, and he took to Twitter to vent his anger and frustration at seeing an established member of the side dropped ahead of a pivotal series.
“I’m actually sitting here very, very, very annoyed,” Pietersen said in a video posted via BreatheSport alongside the caption “I’m really p***ed off”.
“How can you take somebody who’s played over 100 Test matches and you’ve got the biggest Test series coming up against the No1 side in the world and you can drop him? Leave him out of the tour?
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. I understand how people say he might not have scored some runs for a while but you’re going to play South Africa, in South Africa – one of the best bowling attacks that’s bowled over the last few years. You have to take him for his experience. You just have to take him. You cannot drop him before this. If he doesn’t score runs after South Africa then maybe I can sort of understand it but I just do not get the thinking behind this.”
Pietersen, who was exiled from the England squad following the 2013/14 Ashes defeat to Australia and told his international career was over by ECB director Andrew Strauss earlier this year in a drawn out saga, used the faith in Cook during his lean spell of runs as an example of why Bell should have been given one more chance against the Proteas.
“Captain Cook himself, he can go two years without a Test hundred but he can play every single game,” Pietersen added. “As for Belly, he struggles a bit - he got a hundred, what nine or ten Test matches ago? - but he’s not good enough to get to the South Africa tour? I think it’s pathetic and I think he’s been hard done by here and people need to start having a hard look at themselves.”
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