Kevin Pietersen feels poor team selection cost England the second Test

South Africa, on the back of some exceptional bowling performances, beat England in the second Test at Tent Bridge to level the series 1-1. Following the debacle, Kevin Pietersen has slammed the English top order for being too passive and asked them to bring back Dawid Malan and Jason Roy for the third Test to be played the coming week.

England’s top order has not been up to mark as is evident from the scorecard. In the four innings they’ve played so far in the series, opening batsman Keaton Jennings has mustered only 44 runs, while Gary Ballance, batting at No. 3 has underperformed not just this series but for a long time now.

Although England won the opening Test at Lord’s by 211-run, they were humiliated in the following game as they lost by a huge 340 runs margin. And according to Pietersen, the loss was due to poor team selection. Had the new skipper Joe Root not performed exceptionally well in the first Test, that too would have scaled in the favour of the visitors, feels the 37-year-old.

“They picked a poor test-match team,” Pietersen told Sky Sports. “I know they won at Lord’s but that was the brilliance of Joe Root. There’s individuals that are brilliant, but the collective don’t fire as much as they should and there are some holes in that batting order.”

Malan and Roy’s inclusion 

“You cannot have a top three that bat as the top three bat or has poor technique, you cannot have that. You’ve got to change that up, get them striking, get bowlers thinking ‘Goodness, if I don’t bowl this ball in the right place, I’m going to get whacked’. Malan and Roy are my choice,” KP continued.

As for Pietersen, the batsman is eyeing an international resurrection with South Africa, as he is now eligible to play for his native country. After scoring a half century for Surrey in a domestic game he played after two years, the right-hander stated that he is looking forward to playing a few more years of cricket with the Proteas.