World Cup: Kevin Pietersen denies plan to quit ODIs

Kevin Pietersen

England’s torturous build-up to the World Cup has already brought its share of problems for the team management in terms of injuries.

Now, with the squad about to leave for the tournament which is being held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, came a report from the Daily Mail that one of their big names was ready to quit the scene.

The paper claimed that Kevin Pietersen has decided to pull out of the 50-over format after the World Cup to concentrate Test cricket but will still play Twenty20 cricket, including the highly lucrative Indian Premier League for which he has a contract with the Deccan Chargers.

However, Pietersen issued a denial on his twitter account, on which the batsman said: “Just to set the record straight…I have no intention of retiring from ODI's after the World Cup!!”

Cynics might have argued with the paper’s suggestion that Pietersen’s apparent desire to spend more time with his family did not exactly chime with him appearing in the IPL which starts soon after the World Cup final, which will be played in Mumbai on April 2nd. However, Pietersen – whose contract with the Chargers is reckoned to be worth £375,000 for the six weeks of the tournament - was given an idea of the potential brevity of his earning power when he sustained an Achilles tendon in 2009 that ruled him out of the main part of that year’s Ashes Test series.

Whether this denial stacks up to reality or not will only be proven with time. However, Pietersen would not be the first front-line player to withdraw from one form of the game at International level, for one reason or another, and the crowded programme that has been set this winter for those England players involved in all formats calls into question just who was planning it and for what purpose?

Those who played in the Ashes series, and then stayed on for the Twenty20 and one-day international sections of the tour, returned this week from nearly three months away with only three days to prepare before the World Cup squad leaves. They will play warm-up games next week against Canada and Pakistan in Dhaka ahead of their first Group game against the Netherlands in Nagpur on February 22nd.

The intensity of the Australia tour was highlighted through the ODI series in which England lost six players to injury before the conclusion of the seven matches.

Pietersen made clear his own view that seven such matches after a tough Ashes series was asking too much of players prior to a World Cup – where England had been considered one of the leading contenders before they were thrashed 6-1 by Australia – when he was quoted as saying: "Our schedule has been ridiculous going into this World Cup and it is probably why England teams have not done well in past World Cups.”

In the first warm-up games for this year’s tournament New Zealand, who had been going through rather a lean spell, started win a 32-run win over Ireland in the first of two warm-up games for both teams at Nagpur. Martin Guptill's 130 off 195 balls and a 104-run fourth-wicket stand between him and James Franklin (49) led the way as the Black Caps scored 311-6.

Elsewhere West Indies looked less than dominant in a 61-run win over Kenya, Sri Lanka beat the Netherlands by 156 runs, Bangladesh beat Canada by nine wickets and South Africa beat Zimbabwe by eight wickets.

Paul Wheeler

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