Pietersen says Ashes win vindicates axing

Pietersen has not played for England since the 5-0 drubbing suffered in the 2013-14 series on Australian soil.

But when Pietersen’s former captain Andrew Strauss was appointed as managing director, his first move was to rule out a comeback for the controversial 35-year-old.

Reports had suggested that Strauss would allow Pietersen to return to the fold, despite stinging criticism aimed at the previous England regime in his autobiography, but the 35-year-old has been told he is not required.

England won the Ashes with a 3-2 home victory this summer.

Though Pietersen refuses to admit that his book, published in October 2014, led to him being marginalised by the European Central Bank, he concedes that given the Ashes result Strauss made the correct decision in overlooking him for selection.

He’s done ok and some of things he’s done getting past players back into the dressing room is brilliant because there is so much knowledge out there which we missed out on.

When asked if the door was closed on his England career, Pietersen replied: “If it is, it is. If that can’t happen then I will just keep applying my trade anywhere I can over the next few years”. I’m living my life. I am so positive.

He said: “At the time I would have said it was ridiculous and nonsense, but England won the Ashes“. I have some real close buddies in that side and seeing them do the business was something that made me happy. “I am fairly cool about it”.

Pietersen is now focusing on Twenty20 cricket and will play for the Durban-based Dolphins in South Africa next month before competing in the Pakistan Super League.

“Twenty20 is going to stay for sure because that form of the game brings a whole different audience to test cricket”, he explained. I can’t go in there and change things.

“I love check cricket and I assume we owe it to the good recreation, which is check cricket, to converse positively about it. I don’t need to sit on this stage and say check cricket is lifeless”.

However, Pietersen felt that by increasing the salaries of Test cricketers, the administrators can offer an incentive for players to strive for excellence in the longest format.

“I am not saying they don’t get paid well now, and some of us playing franchise cricket earn some very good money, but we should all be saying we want to be playing test cricket, that’s where we all want to be”, said Pietersen.