Pietersen says sorry for rant after England axing

Kevin Pietersen has apologised for his furious reaction to England’s decision to leave him out of the one-day squads to face Pakistan.

Pietersen was axed from the five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches after a poor run for England in an attempt to give him time to rediscover his form during a loan spell with English county Surrey.

The batsman responded to the news by posting a message on micro-blogging internet site Twitter which said: “Done for rest of summer!! Man of the World Cup T20 and dropped from the T20 side too.. Its a f*** up!!”

Infuriated

Pietersen’s blast was reported to have infuriated national selector Geoff Miller and, in a bid to calm the situtation, he has now said sorry for his rant.

The 30-year-old, who will leave his parent county Hampshire at the end of the season, claimed he published the message on Twitter by mistake and apologised for his comments ahead of his Surrey debut against Worcestershire on Wednesday.

“It came out in the way that I didn’t want it to come out,” Pietersen told Surrey TV. “It was something that wasn’t meant for the public domain and I apologise for it entering the public domain and I also want to apologise for the language I used.”

Earlier, Darren Gough, a former England bowler, earlier told TalkSport that Pietersen — the star of England’s winning World Twenty20 campaign earlier this year — deserved a chance to rediscover his form against Pakistan.

“He’s England’s best one-day player and what better way for him to get back into form than to go out against Pakistan and belt it,” Gough said.

“It’s absolutely pathetic that you can drop the man who was player of the tournament at the World Twenty20 earlier this year.

Gough also insisted Pietersen should continue to be a part of England’s plans for their defence of the Ashes in Australia.

“If they don’t take him to the Ashes, we might as well just give Australia the urn,” Gough added, contrasting Pietersen’s treatment with the way Australia has backed out-of-form players in the past.

“What would Australia have done? I didn’t see them drop Mike Hussey when he was struggling. I didn’t see them drop Michael Clarke when he went through a bad run of form. They stick with them because they’re world class.”

While Pietersen clearly has Gough’s support, another of his former international team-mates - ex-England captain Michael Vaughan - believes the star was wrong to voice his opinion on Twitter.

“What he did on his Twitter account was totally wrong,” Vaughan told BBC Radio 5 live. “I think that’s something Kevin will regret for a long time.” Vaughan, who led the England team when Pietersen burst onto the scene in 2004, is confident England’s handling of the situation will help Pietersen in the long run.

“I actually think that England have managed it in a good way,” Vaughan said.

“They feel that he needs more cricket and a couple of four-day games rather than playing the one-day series against Pakistan just to get that form and feel for batting again.

AFP