Pietersen Quits One-Day Cricket for England, Will Focus on Tests
England batsman Kevin Pietersen will focus on Test match cricket after retiring from shorter forms of the international game.
He won’t play any more one-day internationals or Twenty20 games for the national team, the England and Wales Cricket Board said today in a release. He wanted to pull out of 50-over ODIs and carry on with Twenty20s but ECB contracts don’t allow that.
“With the intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body, approaching 32, I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the ICC World Cup in 2015,” Pietersen said in the statement. “For the record, were the selection criteria not in place, I would have readily played for England in the upcoming ICC World Twenty20.”
Pietersen has played 127 one-day internationals and 36 international Twenty20 matches for England, the board said.
He has scored 4,184 runs at an average of 42 in ODIs and averages 38 in international Twenty20 cricket.
England is currently 2-0 up in a three-Test series with the West Indies. The third match starts June 7 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
To contact the reporter on this story: Peter-Joseph Hegarty in London at phegarty@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net.
Pietersen Quits One-Day Cricket for England, Will Focus on Tests
Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
England batsman Kevin Pietersen said, “With the intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body, approaching 32, I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the ICC World Cup in 2015.”
England batsman Kevin Pietersen said, “With the intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body, approaching 32, I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the ICC World Cup in 2015.” Photographer: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
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