Australian fast bowler Ryan Harris says he refuses to believe they will not face Kevin Pietersen in this years Ashes series until the teams are actually named.
Harris told cricket.com.au it would be ‘very hard’ not to pick Pietersen if his current form continued.
Pietersen made a record-breaking 355 not out for Surrey in Division Two of the County Championship on Tuesday, yet the England and Wales Cricket Board’s newly-appointed director of cricket Andrew Strauss has told his former teammate that he will not be a part of the national side’s future.
‘I know that Strauss and him probably don’t get on, [but] I’m not going to believe it until we get over there and they pick their squad,’ said Harris.
‘He’s just peeled off a triple-hundred. If he keeps going on and playing for Surrey, he may quit now, but if he keeps going and scoring hundred after hundred there’s going to be a lot of pressure to pick him.
‘Although it has been said by the new cricket director, I’m not going to believe it until we play five Tests and Kevin Pietersen doesn’t play.’
COLLINGWOOD NOT LOOKING AT ENGLAND JOB
Former England all-rounder Paul Collingwood says it would take a ‘ridiculous offer’ from the ECB to persuade him to become England’s new coach.
Collingwood has declared in the past his ambition to coach at the highest level when he retires from playing.
Yorkshire’s first-team coach Jason Gillespie and fellow Australian Justin Langer currently head the betting for next England coach and Andrew Strauss, the new director of England cricket, confirmed at his first news conference that Gillespie was a candidate.
‘I’m still playing cricket for Durham,’ Collingwood told ESPNCricinfo. ‘I have a contract until the end of the season and I’m looking forward to fulfilling that.
‘At the moment, unless some kind of ridiculous offer comes in, something I can’t refuse, I’m more than happy playing cricket for Durham, maybe even the season after this.’
