Kevin Pietersen went harsh with words to criticize the County cricket, termed it reason for England’s miseries

Updated - May 21, 2022 9:47 pm

1.7K Views

Former English batting stalwart, Kevin Pietersen has come up with some strong criticism for county cricket. He termed the class of cricketers produced by county as “poor” and coined it as the prime cause of the current downfall of the England national cricket team in Tests.

Appearing on the ground in the last 17 Test matches, the English team has claimed only one victory under former captain Joe Root’s leadership. Just because of their endless miseries in Test cricket, England is placed at the bottom of the table in the World Test Championship which comprises nine Test-playing nations.

After being outplayed in series after series, the English team would hope for a change in the story as they go into the long summer season. England is set to play a three-match Test series against New Zealand starting from June 2 at Lord’s.

County is producing players of a “poor” standard – Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen, the man who has been a part of four Ashes-winning teams, has come up with some harsh words with regard to county cricket in the context of the miseries of the national team in Test cricket.

“Even though the rest of the squad is quite similar, hopefully McCullum and Stokes can get them playing better cricket. I don’t believe that these aren’t the best players in England, I just think that the standard of players coming out of the county game is poor. Hopefully, McCullum can get more out of them.”

The English team management would be completely transformed at the start of the home series against New Zealand as senior all-rounder Ben Stokes will take charge as the new skipper. Apart from him, the coaching management will also have a new face as its head, none other than the former NZ captain Brendon McCullum.

Talking about the appointments of McCullum and Ben Stokes, KP opined on Betway Insider :

“Delighted with England’s Brendon McCullum appointment. McCullum is a very interesting choice as England’s Test match coach. I think his brand of cricket is one that will be along the same lines as what Rob Key (England men’s cricket managing director) and Ben Stokes want. It’s also what the paying public want to watch.”

Something needed to change, McCullum is a positive change – Pietersen

Expressing his belief in the current transformation of the English team management, Pietersen later added :

“Something needed to change, and this is positive change. England will now have lots of discipline, but also be encouraged to play naturally. Don’t be scared, don’t be timid, go out and do your thing. McCullum also isn’t scarred by England’s recent failures. He only knows positivity, and he’s only known success as a leader of a Test team after his time as captain of New Zealand.”

Third highest run-scorer of all time for England, Pietersen expressed his expectations and hopes that McCullum can encourage English cricketers to come out with their best version on the field during his tenure as the England team’s coach.