England could still miss Kevin Pietersen - http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mickey-Arthur-c1969 - Cricket News Update
Australian coach, Mickey Arthur while talking about recently retired http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806, believes that the English team could still miss their star player even after winning their four consecutive One-Day International (ODI) matches.
Pietersen, in a surprise move, retired from both shorter formats of the game after English Cricket Board (ECB) refused to allow him to pick and choose between ODIs and T20s, leaving the player to represent his adopted country in only Test matches.
The top-order batsman, who like Arthur was born and raised in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shane-Keith-Warne-c89672 had severely criticised the ECB over their “egoistic” attitude
and the way the treatment was meted out to the 32-year-old batsman. “Any team that has not got Kevin Pietersen is significantly weaker,” said Warne.
The development was a big blow for the English team management who were facing the dilemma of missing out on a specialist opener on the eve of an ODI series against the West Indies.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 is already leading the series 2-0 with the next match due to be played at Edgbaston which is Bell’s hometown. A victory here would seal the series for the hosts.
Arthur, who is also a former Proteas coach, thinks that despite the impressive run of the home side in the ongoing series, the loss of Pietersen would come to haunt them in the future.
"Kevin's a world-class player, there's certainly no getting away from that. He's been fantastic, so it would have been an interesting selection poser. You would say they've gone seemingly well without him, because I don't think they've lost an ODI since
he's gone,” the Aussie coach said
"But down the line I think they might feel the weight of that decision, because he is a class act - and he was playing very, very well as well before it ended for him. At the moment they're not missing him but down the line, not sure," said the 44-year-old.
England has won their last six successive home series and with the Kevin Pietersen episode behind them, the English are looking increasingly good to bag yet another one.
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