• Strauss to cut Pietersen’s lifeline

    Andrew Strauss will announce on Tuesday that despite scoring an unbeaten 326 for Surrey against Leicestershire, Kevin Pietersen will not be recalled to the England team.

    Reports in Britain says Strauss, the new director of cricket, will make the announcement at his first press conference at Lord’s on Tuesday.

    Strauss and the ECB’s chief executive, Tom Harrison, met England’s leading run scorer in all forms of international cricket on Monday night in London, when he was told he will not be considered for the forthcoming series against New Zealand or the subsequent Ashes series with Australia, reports the Guardian.

    The BBC’s cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew reported that the South African-born batsman learned of his fate despite giving up a lucrative contract in the Indian Premier League, having been encouraged to play county cricket by the incoming ECB chairman, Colin Graves.

    Pietersen had earlier said he was hopeful of a recall.

    ‘All I’ve been asked to do by the chairman elect is get a county and to score runs and I’ve done both and I do believe I’m good enough to play for England. All I can do is score runs. That’s it,’ he said.

    ‘The pressure I was under this morning, that’s one of my best innings ever, purely because I knew that tomorrow [Tuesday] was a press conference [held by Strauss] and I knew things were happening this evening and I knew I needed to basically answer any questions with runs on the deck and 326 is a pretty good argument. 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 … look, I’ve got to be careful what I say.

    ‘It’s an interesting time and what more can I do? I was told to find a county. I was told to score runs. I think I’m scoring runs. I’ve always said since my knee was sorted that, if my knee was good, I’m going to play well.

    ‘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.’