Kevin Pietersen was told by new England chief Andrew Strauss he will not play for his country again just hours after blasting a career-best 326 not out, according to reports on Monday.
Exiled batsman Pietersen surpassed his previous first-class best of 254 in a mammoth innings for Surrey on day two of their County Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire at The Oval.
The 34-year-old’s new record total came in just 373 balls as he smashed 34 fours and 14 sixes to all corners of the south London venue in Surrey’s first innings total of 528 for nine.
South Africa-born Pietersen, who has hoped for an England recall since being axed in the aftermath of their 2013-14 Ashes defeat in Australia, revealed immediately after the day’s play that he was due to meet Strauss, the ECB’s director of cricket, and chief executive Tom Harrison to discuss his international prospects.
But, according to BBC reports later on Monday, Strauss, who was hired over the weekend, used the meeting to confirm to Pietersen that he would not be allowed back into the fold.
“We understand that Kevin Pietersen has been told this evening that he won’t be picked to play for England again,” a tweet from the BBC’s Test Match Special account read.
The BBC’s cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew added: “I gather Strauss has confirmed to KP this evening that he will not be selected for England again.”
Television personality Piers Morgan, a close friend of Pietersen’s, had earlier suggested the talks would go badly for the batsman.
“I can now reveal that Andrew Strauss and Tom Harrison asked to see KP tonight. I believe to tell him he wouldn’t play for England again,” Morgan tweeted.
“If Strauss and Harrison still try to end KP’s England career now, they are betraying England sport and the fans.”
The news will be a big blow to Pietersen, who, following his triple century, had spoken passionately about his desire to resume his international career in time for the forthcoming Ashes series.
“They say timing is everything. He (Strauss) has come in, there’s a new chairman on Friday or Saturday, there has to be a new coach, (Peter) Moores has gone,” Pietersen said.
“I was told to go and get a county, I was told to score runs, I think I’m scoring runs.
“There is a meeting this evening and it’s a totally private matter.
“I’ve got to be careful what I say; it’s an interesting time, and what more can I do?”
Pietersen had also been encouraged by the dismissal over the weekend of England coach Peter Moores, with whom he had an acrimonious power struggle during a previous spell in charge of the national team.
However, Strauss had an equally difficult relationship with Pietersen when he captained the volatile star, who reportedly fell out with several more of his international team-mates.
Pietersen had to admit sending “provocative” texts about Strauss to South Africa players in 2012 and last year Strauss, then working as a television pundit, embarrassingly let slip exactly what he thought of his former team-mate with an obscenity picked up on a stray broadcast mic.
Strauss is certain to be grilled about the situation when he holds his first press conference on Tuesday, before announcing the Test squad to face New Zealand at Lord’s next week — a match which Pietersen believes he should feature in.
“I’ve always said since my knee was sorted in Australia, if my knee’s good, I’m going to play well,” Pietersen said.
“I played well in the Big Bash, I gave up a contract in India, I’m not playing for any money here – I’m dedicated to getting back my England place.
“I want my England place, and I think I deserve my England place.”
Blades
Guest
So you've recently lost a test series at home to Sri Lanka and drawn one away to a struggling West Indies side that your own chairman described as "mediocre." Maybe, just maybe it might be time to consider choosing your best batsmen. The one player who performed in the last Ashes, the guy who just got 355* while dealing with the pressure of a collapsing team and a meeting where his future career hung in the balance.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Who would fund this thing? We already fund the Shield at a loss. We fund "A" Tours, U20 World Cups and tours and endless other things. I am not sure how the Poms fund all of this, but presumably it's a scale thing - there's three times as many people so three times as many fans, sponsers etc.
josh
Roar Rookie
Kind of. Graves(?) said if KP was playing red ball cricket and scoring runs, there is no reason why he shouldn't be picked; paraphrasing. I think KP asked for clarification, and was told, (like any other player) if you are playing County and making runs , you can be picked. So he did. Now the ECB, have said, "Nah".
josh
Roar Rookie
not everything. The Matador Cup is introducing an 7th team, representing a Young Guns style team. Whereby after the the 6 states name their 15 man squad, the 7th teams picks the best of the rest.
Johnno
Guest
Let's get this clear, KP and Strauss don't like each other, in fact there 2-people who can't stand each other, there could only be 1 person now in involved in the Eng set-up, it's untenable it seems haveing both in the set-up. And the ECB won't sack Strauss after just appointing him over a soon to be 35-yr old batsmen next month. Team morale is important, and if KP and Strauss are at each other's throats forget it. it won't work. Wonder if KP will consider suing, did the ECB give KP any assurances he was in the mix.
Jo M
Guest
He was still out there for 7 odd hours.
ChrisB
Guest
Yeah because they're doing really well without his destabilising influence
Jameswm
Guest
Sure, but the Aussies would have sorted him out by now.
Disco
Guest
Well, Pietersen will be off to the IPL soon.
Pottsy
Guest
Why not just say that we see you as a batsman who could play from 3-5 and as those spots are taken atm, you'll need to keep scoring runs and if one of the trio leaves, you have a chance of being recalled? Bad timing to tell a guy he has no chance after making a triple. I'm neutral on whether KP comes back btw. I think England's main problem is that their side will most likely include 3 number 7's - Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes. The problem with that is that selectors will find it hard to drop one of them based on a specific skill. Moeen is a case in point. If he fails with the bat, as a top 6 batting, that is a major problem. However any prolonged form slump will ignored if his bowling is competent.
JimmyB
Guest
Well actually Ronan, KP called Strauss a c*** in one of the texts he sent to the South Africans during that test match. So in actuality it was Strauss who was responding albeit belatedly.
Paul D
Roar Guru
I think an injury to one of Ballance, Root or Bell is the only chance he’s got, and even then he’s probably not first cab off the rank. The nightmare scenario for the powers-that-be in England cricket will be if the middle order does badly during the upcoming tests against NZ and has a bad start against Australia – and meanwhile KP is busy plundering runs for Surrey and lighting up the county scene. There will be plenty of voices calling for his return if that scenario eventuates. Not saying he’d get a recall by any means, but the distraction and pressure is going to be immense. This KP story is going to continue without pausing for the next 3 months, unless England start winning games or KP stops scoring runs. I wouldn’t bet on either of those happening either. The former will be stronger at home, but you’d think Australia will be far too powerful, and the latter has shown he consistently plays his best cricket when he’s got a point to prove.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
I hope we smash England in the Ashes so this all blows up in their face. English cricket team looks a lot more formidable with KP in then out of it. Surely of all places, the Ashes is where differences could be put aside? Ah well. England digging a deep hole without a crane to get out.
Dizzy Tangles
Guest
KP has ruffled too many feathers. I watched him in an interview recently and he is so egotistical he speaks about himself in the 3rd person and just comes across as a very annoying tool. Too bad his unpleasant personality led to his career being cut short but you can kind of see why his team don't want him around.
CW
Guest
Australia should have a similar promotion/relegation system in an extended S.Shield. Country cricket has traditionally produced many good players. Perhaps we could have a country side from each state and a team from the ACT and one from the Northern Territory. That would make 14 teams divided into two tiers. The two tiers would play concurrently. So there would be no extra time needed. This is pie in the sky stuff though. CA would never go for anything innovative like this.Everything revolves around their cashcow..the BBL.
cruyff turn
Roar Rookie
Why not play Ballance as an opener, and then shift Bell up to no. 3? Might be a punt, but so too is bringing in a debutant like Lyth to open the batting, or going back to Robson. Put it this way. If you asked the Australian bowlers who they would rather NOT bowl to, they'd choose KP in a heartbeat. Strauss wasn't prepared to put his own pride to one side, he's too involved to make a purely objective cricketing decision. Boycott was right. It just shows the sheer lunacy of appointing him Head of Cricket.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Lot's of good players score massive runs against muppets ( Dave Warner did in Africa mid 2013 ashes ) to get back into the groove, if not the team. I think England may be being a tad hasty. What if he gets 400 next time? What if someone get's injured?
SP
Guest
English cricket is the gift that keeps on giving. What a shambles.
Targa
Guest
There's a pretty useful bloke from Sri Lanka in Pietersen's team called Kumar something and he only got 36...
Paul D
Roar Guru
Fair point - it's still a huge score and a great effort, but then again world class players like Pietersen usually aren't playing Div 2 county cricket. That's part of the reason why you don't see it all the time.