Pietersen left out of England squad as Essex and Middlesex stars picked

Sunday, August 12, 2012
3:51 PM

ECB selectors name Jonathan Bairstow ahead of Surrey batsman

Kevin Pietersen was today left out of England’s squad for the must-win Lord’s Test against South Africa.

England announced this afternoon they have picked Essex opener Alastair Cook and Middlesex fast bowler Steven Finn, while Jonathan Bairstow has been named in place of Pietersen, whose involvement has been in doubt throughout a controversial week.

It appears that, despite the Surrey star’s “change of heart” last night and commitment to make himself available again for his adopted country in all formats, a sticking point remained over the content of text messages he reportedly sent to opposition players during the drawn Headingley Test.

England’s selectors delayed the naming of their 13-man squad by an extra five hours today, for a match they must win to level the Investec series and rescue their world number one status, to allow Pietersen extra time to publicly declare he did not send “derogatory texts” to the South African team.

Pietersen arranged an interview, broadcast to millions on YouTube last night, in which he made it clear he had seen the error of his ways and had decided playing cricket for England was more important than other issues.

But crucially, it seems, he did not address the matter of texts he reportedly sent during last week’s drawn Test - which have been portrayed in some quarters as being critical of his own team and/or management.

Hugh Morris, managing director England Cricket, said: “During the past week we have held several discussions with Kevin Pietersen and his advisers.

“Following a constructive meeting, it was agreed that a number of actions needed to be completed to re-engage Kevin within the England dressing room.

“A fundamental item was to confirm publicly that no derogatory texts had been sent by Kevin to the South African team.

“This has not been forthcoming, despite clear timelines being set to allow the selectors to pick the squad for the third Investec Test Match.

“We provided an additional six hours this morning to provide every opportunity for agreement to be reached, but regrettably this has not been possible.”

England squad: AJ Strauss (Middlesex, captain), JM Anderson (Lancashire), JM Bairstow (Yorkshire), IR Bell (Warwickshire), TT Bresnan (Yorkshire), SCJ Broad (Nottinghamshire), AN Cook (Essex) ST Finn (Middlesex), G Onions (Durham), MJ Prior (Sussex, wicketkeeper), GP Swann (Nottinghamshire), JWA Taylor (Nottinghamshire), IJL Trott (Warwickshire).